NEW YORK (Fortune) – Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner set plans Wednesday to rein in the wild and wooly derivatives markets.
Geithner proposed requiring that over-the-counter derivatives such as credit default swaps be traded on exchanges, and that all major dealers in derivatives markets be subject to federal oversight.
Geithner said the rules would bolster the stability of financial markets, promote efficient and transparent pricing and help regulators stamp out fraud and abuse.
Appearing at a press conference in Washington, Geithner said he expects to propose the new framework to Congress in coming weeks as the administration and legislators hash out new laws governing derivatives markets.
"The financial crisis was caused by - and exposed – significant gaps in oversight," he said. "We are committed to working with Congress to create more comprehensive system."
Full story
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner will host a meeting of international finance ministers next week, the Treasury Department said Monday.
The April 24 gathering of Group of 7 officials in Washington, D.C., will be followed by a larger meeting of Group of 20 ministers.
After a summit in London earlier this month, G-20 member nations agreed to increase oversight of the global financial system and pledged more than $1 trillion to the IMF to help economies in need.
However, certain details of the plan remain unclear and analysts said next week's meetings will likely involve discussion of, among other things, how much money individual members will commit to the IMF.
(CNN) - As the government tries to curb corporate excess of companies receiving federal bailout money, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner appears to be leading by example.
The man who was grilled by Congress last week over the AIG bonuses took the Delta shuttle from New York to Washington on Saturday, riding in the coach section. Asked why not first class, Geithner said he always rides coach, "never first class".
WASHINGTON (CNN) – President Barack Obama has named one of his economics advisers to the No. 2 post at the Treasury Department and will keep a Bush administration appointee in another top job, the White House announced Monday.
Obama has picked Neal Wolin, an insurance executive who now serves as a White House adviser, as Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner's deputy, the White House said. He also named Lael Brainard, a global economics specialist at the Brookings Institution, as the department's undersecretary for international affairs, and will keep Stuart Levey as the undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence.
The moves will beef up staff in the Cabinet agency that is handling much of the Obama administration's economic recovery efforts. Monday's announcements are aimed at filling three of the four top posts in the Treasury Department that require Senate confirmation, the White House said.
"I am grateful for the service of these dedicated and talented
individuals and have the highest confidence that, under the leadership of Secretary Geithner, they will serve the American people well as we tackle the challenges ahead of us," Obama said in a written statement.
Levey was the first person to hold the job of undersecretary in charge of disrupting the financial networks behind terrorism, weapons proliferation and drug trafficking. Former President George Bush appointed him to the post after its creation in 2004, and he will not have to face a new confirmation hearing, the White House said.
WASHINGTON (CNN) - Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Monday the Treasury Department's plan to rid banks of toxic assets carries "the potential for both risk and reward."
But he said the risk of using public money to buy troubled assets is outweighed by the need to act quickly to get credit flowing again.
"The Treasury Department plan is based on the sound principle that if we are to revive our economy, we must unfreeze the credit markets so people can get the loans they need to keep their small businesses open, buy a car or send their children to college," Reid said in a statement.
"Like any investment, this plan carries the potential for both risk and reward. But above all, we must act – one risk we will not take is standing on the sidelines and doing nothing while a bad situation gets worse."
WASHINGTON (CNNMoney.com) - The Treasury Department unveiled its long-awaited plan to remove many of the troubled assets from banks' books Monday, representing one of the biggest efforts by the U.S. government yet to tackle the ongoing financial crisis.
Under the new so-called "Public-Private Investment Program", taxpayer funds will be used to seed partnerships with private investors that will buy up so-called toxic assets backed by mortgages and other loans.
The goal is to buy up at least $500 billion of bad assets - such as subprime mortgages that are now in danger of default. Doing so would help cleanse the balance sheets of many of the nation's largest banks, which continue to suffer billions of dollars in losses.
The government will then run auctions between the banks selling the assets and the investors buying them, hoping to effectively create a market for these assets.
Could the toxic asset bailout backfire? CNN Radio's Bob Costantini takes a closer look.
To kickstart things, the administration said it will commit $75 billion to $100 billion and would consider how the program is progressing before committing more money.
(CNN) - Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told CNN Thursday his department asked Sen. Chris Dodd to include a loophole in the stimulus bill that allowed bailed-out insurance giant American International Group to keep its bonuses.
In an interview with CNN's Ali Velshi, Geithner said the Treasury Department was particularly concerned the government would face lawsuits if bonus contracts were breached.
Watch: Geithner on AIG bonuses
Dodd admitted to CNN Wednesday he'd added the controversial provision after a Treasury official pushed for it. Earlier in the week, Dodd had said he had not played any role in the addition of the loophole.
Geithner told Velshi Thursday he takes full responsibility for the situation.
Also in the interview, airing in part at 5 pm ET on CNN, Geithner said:
WASHINGTON (CNN) - President Obama and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner on Monday will announce administration plans to make lending to small businesses more attractive, two senior administration officials confirm.
Many small businesses, suffering from dried-up coffers and unpaid bills, are having a tough time getting loans from lenders.
"We know that small businesses are the engine of growth in the economy, and we absolutely want to do things to help them," Christina Romer, who heads the Council of Economic Advisers, said on NBC's Meet the Press Sunday.
Romer said the government would pump "a significant amount" of money into boosting small business lending, but she did not reveal a total figure.
WASHINGTON (CNN) - As auto giants General Motors and Chrysler face Tuesday's deadline to submit plans to show the government how they can repay billions in federal loans, the White House is creating a Presidential Task Force on Autos to oversee the restructuring of the auto industry, a senior administration official said.
The task force will include members from the Departments of Treasury, Labor, Transportation, Commerce, and Energy, the National Economic Council (NEC), the White House Office of Energy and Environment, the Council of Economic Advisers and the Environmental Protection Agency, the official said.
It will be overseen by Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and NEC Director Larry Summers.
Geithner will oversee the loan agreements with the automakers.
Teams at the Treasury Department and the National Economic Council are working with the automakers and stakeholders to prepare for their Tuesday submissions, the official said.
FULL POST
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - A day after unveiling his new financial rescue plan, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner again went before Congress to defend it.
Watch: Geithner grilled on bailout
Geithner's revised bailout was met with disappointment on Wall Street and with some lawmakers who thought Treasury's plan was lacking in details.
At a hearing held Wednesday by the Senate Budget Committee, senators pressed Geithner to give more specifics about Treasury's new bailout efforts.
"The market has made clear that certainty and stability are commodities of great demand; unfortunately, that is not what we received yesterday," said Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala. "Secretary Geithner, you need to give a detailed plan in clear terms of how we are to proceed. You've had more than a month to work on the proposal, but what we've heard is an outline."
"I hope you can use the hearing today to put some meat on the bones," Sessions added.
From CNN Politics
© 2012 Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
| Advertising practices | Advertise with us | About us | Work for us | Help
Recent Comments