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Congressman Vito Fossella’s (R-NY13) most recent field meeting of his Task Force on ways to enhance the competitiveness of the U.S. capital markets, which was held this past Monday in Dallas, Texas, focused primarily on the issue of regulatory reform. Joining Fossella at the meetings was Congressman Pete Sessions (R-TX32), a member of the Task Force and the House Financial Services Committee.
Fossella, who serves as Chairman of the “Capital Markets, Economic and Information Security” Task Force under the House Republican Policy Committee, met with members of the Dallas Security Traders Association and others to discuss regulatory improvements to enhance market efficiencies, liquidity and capital formation.
Fossella said, “Dallas is a growing center of the financial and energy markets within the United States and internationally. Our meetings in Dallas helped us gain a unique perspective on the issues affecting the competitiveness of the U.S. markets. As an integral link between investors and the marketplace, the Dallas-area securities traders provided valuable input about ways in which we can modernize and improve regulation of the markets to enhance innovation and efficiency. Strong and competitive capital markets equal economic growth – both in Dallas and across the country.”
Sessions said, “The financial securities industry is vital to the economy of Dallas and to the United States. I believe that Congress has the responsibility to ensure that capital markets are free from burdensome government regulation and frivolous litigation, which will encourage increased capital formation, job creation, and global competitiveness in America. I welcome Congressman Fossella’s visit to Dallas to hear from participants from across the securities industry, and I thank him for his continued interest in working on these important issues.”
Since the formation of the Task Force in June 2007, Fossella has met with top officials of the financial services industry in Chicago, Atlanta, Philadelphia and other cities. He has reached out to a broad spectrum of market participants to build upon the findings and recommendations included in several reports released on the issue over the past year. The Task Force is using these recommendations as a starting point and is focusing on legislative remedies that would more effectively strike a balance between upholding investor protections and promoting competitive markets.
A decline in U.S. economic competitiveness would have a significant negative impact on our national economy. One recent study predicted an annual loss of $30 billion in revenue from the financial services sector alone over the next five years, along with the 30,000 to 60,000 domestic jobs this money would have created. In addition, the report said that capital markets in European and Asian economies may have significantly more room to grow than in the U.S. due to lower capital markets penetration.
Fossella has been active in addressing concerns over U.S. competitiveness. In 2005, Fossella introduced legislation to make structural and procedural improvements to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in an effort to enhance communication between the policy-making and the enforcement and examination divisions of the agency. The SEC implemented several recommendations contained in the Fossella bill less than six months later.
