Sure, FDIC Chair Sheila Bair has fought for her agency's turf with some critiques of the Consumer Financial Protection Agency. But that doesn't mean she won't be fighting for better regulation. At a speech today to the American Bankers Association, she reportedly advocated on behalf of consumers who don't want to get ripped off by banks anymore. Here's her comments during an earlier speech to a coalition in town to demonstrate against the bankers:I will be speaking to the American Bankers Association later this morning and one of my messages will be to get in there and support the Consumer Financial Protection Agency (CFPA). The administration has proposed a new Consumer Protection Agency to establish consistent consumer protection standards for banks and non-banks. I strongly support this new agency. … Looking at indecipherable credit card statement and documents and mortgages you can’t understand and APRs from Payday Loans and high overdraft fees – I don’t see how anybody can say that we’ve done a good job protecting consumers and financial services. I just don’t see it. ... The absence of a national standard was a contributing factor to our current economic turmoil – this uneven nature of regulatory protections and this lack of strong standards that apply across the board. This new agency would eliminate regulatory gaps between insured institutions and non-banks, consistent with the need for consumer protection standards across the board. And it would address another gap with authority -- to examine for the first time non-bank financial providers. We need an examination and enforcement, not just rules, but examination and enforcement as well. By regulating the non-bank shadow sector for the first time, this new agency CAN help future abuses.This comes after the administration and congressional leaders took some of Bair's suggestions to modify the bill that came out of the House Financial Services Committee last week, but Bair clearly understands the dynamics that helped wreck the economy.
-- Tim Fernholz
