By Edward Kramer
Today’s National Mortgage News Online reports that Senate Banking Committee chairman Christopher Dodd is calling for more aggressive enforcement of the consumer protection laws and regulations by bank regulators. The brief article noted that during a committee hearing yesterday on the genesis of the economic crisis, Senator Dodd blamed the current financial crisis on regulators, and noted that the situation is a direct result of federal regulators that encouraged risky lending practices and ignored consumer protection.
“Never again should we permit the kind of systematic regulatory failures that allowed reckless lending practices to mushroom into a global credit crisis. Never again should we allow federal financial regulators to treat consumer protection as a nuance or of secondary importance to safety and soundness regulation,” the Connecticut senator said. Some expect that Congress will enact tough mortgage lending standards next year and revamp the financial regulatory system. The House Financial Services Committee will be looking at financial regulatory issues at an Oct. 21 hearing.
