Rep. Frank remains skeptical of bankers' overtures

House Financial Services Committee chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) on Monday expressed skepticism that the banking industry will change its stance on new regulations on it.

Frank spoke to the Wall Street Journal following President Barack Obama's meeting with top banking executives at the White House:

Bank chief executives meeting with President Barack Obama today acknowledged there’s been a “disconnect” between what they’ve said about the re-regulation of the financial industry and what their lobbyists have actually done.

To the bankers’ promise to turn over a new leaf, House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D., Mass.) said: Prove it.

“I’m not one to advocate firing people around Christmas, but maybe they should fire the lobbyists who apparently have so misrepresented their position,” Frank said in an interview.

The House on Friday passed Frank's financial overhaul legislation intended to implement new regulations on the financial sector to protect consumers and roll back Wall Street abuses that led to last year's financial collapse. 

Added the Journal's Jonathan Weisman:

But aides in the House and Senate said the bank CEOs would have to do something dramatic to prove they support re-regulation. One suggested the big banks drop out of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which continues to diligently oppose the Democratic bills.