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FOUR GOALS FOR A STRONGER U.S. FINANCIAL SERVICES INDUSTRY (AND FIVE WAYS FOR CONGRESS TO HELP US GET THERE)
Author(s) -
Haraf William S.
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
journal of applied corporate finance
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1745-6622
pISSN - 1078-1196
DOI - 10.1111/j.1745-6622.1997.tb00626.x
Subject(s) - financial services , convergence (economics) , subsidiary , carry (investment) , finance , financial regulation , business , economics , modernization theory , financial modeling , economic growth , multinational corporation
For at least the past 15 years, the preferred model for financial modernization among U.S. lawmakers and regulators has been based on the concept of the financial services holding company (FSHC) with functional regulation of its financial subsidiaries. Such an approach makes eminently good sense in a world where it is possible to make clear distinctions among different financial functions and between financial services and other information‐based businesses. Although this may have been the case 15 years ago, today the FSHC model will not deal with financial convergence and the broader convergence of information‐based businesses in a completely satisfactory way. To lay the groundwork for a financial structure that can carry us into the next century, Congress needs to look beyond the approaches it has been willing to consider to date. Instead of simply eliminating remaining entry barriers, it needs to permit true financial integration with a much simpler and more streamlined system of regulation than we have today. After holding up four goals for a financial services marketplace for the next century, this article offers five “sensible and politically realistic” suggestions for the 105th Congress that would help move the U.S. financial sector toward those goals.