.jpg)
The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) today released the following statement from President and CEO Timothy Ryan, on the Obama Administration’s announcement to impose a tax on the top banks’ and other financial institutions’ liabilities.
“While we are still learning details of the Administration's new proposed tax, we are concerned to learn that the Government would consider this approach rather than first collecting all outstanding TARP loans plus interest in accordance with the law, and then determine a strategy to recoup any remaining monies.
"We are also concerned that since it appears deposits are excluded, this tax will have a disproportionate impact on wholesale capital markets which supports U.S. consumers through mortgages, home loans, student loans.
“The American taxpayers put their hard earned funds at risk to save our financial system, we are grateful, and we believe it is our responsibility to repay American taxpayers. To that end, we strongly believe that all TARP recipients should pay their loans back with interest in accordance with the TARP law.
“Many institutions who participated in TARP, including the nation's largest financial institutions, have repaid taxpayers in whole plus interest, dividends and warrants, a total of $134 billion dollars. As Treasury pointed out in December, “TARP programs aimed at stabilizing the banking system will earn a profit thanks to dividends, interest, early repayments, and the sale of warrants.”
"The financial services industry has made changes in the way we do business. We will continue to work with legislators to achieve responsible financial regulatory reform and to meet our responsibilities to America’s economic recovery.”
