Finance

Under the bill, the SEC would have to ensure the benefits of new rules outweigh their costs. 

The House on Friday morning took a step toward passing a bill that would require the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to conduct strict cost-benefit analyses of its regulations.

Members approved a rule for H.R. 1062, the SEC Regulatory Accountability Act, in a 223-180 vote. Passage of the rule will let the House approve the bill later Friday.

A top House Republican sought Thursday to tie a contentious corporate disclosure proposal before the Securities and Exchange Commission to the IRS scandal, suggesting both reflect an overtly politicized federal government.

Financial Services Committee chairman Jeb Hensarling said the IRS’ apparent targeting of conservative groups raises questions about how pervasive “tactics of harassment” have become within the Obama administration, saying the scandal is “right out of the Watergate playbook.”

The Texas Republican, during a budget hearing, warned new SEC chairman Mary Jo White that her agency could similarly be viewed as acting in a partisan manner if it pursues a rule requiring public firms to report their political spending to shareholders.

Hensarling said the proposal “is well known to be part of a partisan political agenda of labor union bosses.”

“Now the American people are horrified at those who would use the strong arm of government for partisan political advantage, but it remains to be seen whether this could ever happen at the SEC,” Hensarling said. Read more...

Two financial services companies based in the United Arab Emirates will be frozen out of the U.S. financial market for helping Iran to evade economic sanctions.

The Treasury Department on Wednesday imposed sanctions on an exchange house and a trading company for ignoring sanctions on Iranian banks and helping them access foreign currency.

According to the department, the financial service companies conducted millions of dollars of transactions with the Iranian banks.

“As Iran’s access to the international banking sector comes under increasing pressure, we have seen it turn increasingly to exchange houses and trading companies in its attempts to evade international sanctions and maintain its access to foreign exchange,” said Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence David Cohen in a statement. 

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) wants financial regulators to justify their policy of settling charges with Wall Street's bad actors out of court.

In a letter sent to the Securities and Exchange Commission, Federal Reserve and Justice Department, Warren demanded any analysis regulators have undertaken that justifies a policy of pursuing settlements where the parties involved do not have to admit to wrongdoing.

Warren argued that regulators who too readily settle could end up obtaining insufficient compensation for victims while doing little to deter similar actions in the future.

"I believe strongly that if a regulator reveals itself to be unwilling to take large financial institutions all the way to trial — either because it is too timid or because it lacks resources — the regulator has a lot less leverage in settlement negotiations," Warren wrote in the letter.

"If large financial institutions can break the law and accumulate millions in profits and, if they get caught, settle by paying out of those profits, they do not have much incentive to follow the law."

The Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department are looking into whether reporters at Bloomberg improperly used private user data to steer their reporting, the Financial Times reports.

Businesses fear they’ll be blindsided by forthcoming federal rules, given that the Obama administration has failed to publish its regulatory agenda this year, RegWatch reports.

American clothiers are under mounting pressure to accept new building and safety standards in the wake of last month’s deadly collapse in Bangladesh, according to The New York Times. Last week, Rep. George Miller said garment producers who refuse would have “blood on their labels.” 

Toyota is urging U.S. regulators to approve its new headlight technology, according to the San Antonio Business Journal.

New SEC chief Mary Jo White is approaching a crucial decision of whether to wade into the arena of campaign finance by proposing a new rule forcing corporations to report their political giving, RegWatch reports.

Congressional Republicans are ratcheting up pressure on the new head of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to finally implement the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act.

In a letter sent Monday to SEC Chairman Mary Jo White, four high-ranking GOP lawmakers said it was high time for regulators to implement the legislation, aimed at making it easier for small companies to raise capital. During her confirmation hearing in March, White vowed that getting the law in place would be a top priority if approved by the Senate. Now on the job for a little more than a month, the members reminded her of her commitment.

"We were encouraged by the commitment that you demonstrated during your confirmation process to see that the Commission completes these important rulemakings and hope that you will take steps to do so expeditiously," they wrote.

A Taiwanese company and its chief executive are being sanctioned for helping to support North Korea's weapons regime.

According to the Treasury Department, Trans Multi Mechanics has been used to negotiate contracts for the regime and ship equipment worth thousands of dollars to North Korea.

The department claims that the company was used by a Taiwanese man and his son who were arrested in Estonia and Illinois in recent weeks for attempting to export American machinery that could be used for producing weapons of mass destruction. Since the late 1990s, that man, known as Alex Tsai, had been allegedly providing or attempting to provide North Korea with items that could be used to advance the country's weapons program.

Banks still seen by some as “too big to fail” are hiring influential players, including Tony Fratto, Stephanie Cutter and Ed Gillespie, to “deflect regulatory pressure,” The Wall Street Journal reports.

After the first round of checks to victims of foreclosure abuses bounced, a second wave of checks required by a settlement between banks and regulators included many written for the wrong amount, according to The New York Times. The error potentially cheated consumers out of millions of dollars.

GOP lawmakers contend that the Obama administration’s regulatory “look-back” designed to cut unnecessary rules is failing, RegWatch reports.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is the latest agency to target JPMorgan Chase with potential enforcement action, according to Reuters.

The House Financial Committee approved half a dozen GOP-backed bills that would dial back certain restrictions on derivatives, the previously unregulated securities seen as one of the culprits that led to the Great Recession, The Washington Post reports.

One Democrat on the panel described the package of bills as “basically a wish-list of the financial industry,” according to The Hill’s On the Money blog.

A new AFL-CIO report concludes that occupational illness and job site accidents lead to 150 deaths a day, and links the toll to stalled regulations and lax enforcement from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), RegWatch reports.

OSHA did, however, conduct a major crackdown at an Idaho assisted living center, issuing $19,000 in fines, according to The Associated Press.

A federal court dealt a major blow to the National Labor Relations Board, striking down regulations requiring employers to display posters promoting union rights, RegWatch reports.