Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has called assertions he is resistant to tough new financial rules “ridiculous.”
The former president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York said there is no evidence he has tried to water down new regulations being written as part of the Dodd-Frank overhaul of the financial system.
“I have been incredibly supportive, and the president’s been very tough in trying to make sure these reforms are tough and strong,” Geithner told PBS’s NewsHour Thursday night.
In the wake of losses at J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., the White House is seeking to ensure a tough interpretation of a regulation designed to prevent banks from making bets with their own money, according to people familiar with the matter, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Geithner acknowledged that banks’ efforts to blunt the new rules have been “formidable,” but he said the lobbying is not succeeding in getting regulators to water down the rules.
“Actually the lobbying effort is very forceful,” Geithner said. “They’re putting a lot of money into it, and they’ve got a lot of political support from the president’s opponents. But it’s having no impact so far on our ability to write tough rules and put in reforms.”
When discussing the European sovereign debt crisis, Geithner said Europe now has “better tools for managing the crisis” and welcomed debate about how to strike a better balance between encouraging growth and reducing budget deficits through austerity programs.
Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., The Wall Street Journal, White House
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