Treasury Got A “D” - By Kelvin To, Founder And President Of Data Boiler Technologies

The U.S. Treasury published a report on June 12, 2017 in respond to the President’s Executive Order (EO) 13772 on core principles for regulating the U.S. financial system. It has an interesting remark about the design and implementation of the Volcker Rule: “far overshot the mark” – a vague compliment or false-modesty. However, the report itself scored low marks and I am giving it a “D” grade because:

• Off topic, incomplete, failed to provide a macro view to help facilitate actions.
• Totally missed the mark on discovering ways to cope with 21^st century challenges.
• Omitted a roadmap of how supervisory changes will translate into economic benefits.

The EO explicitly asks for “the extent to which existing laws/ policies promote and support the President’s core principles”, whilst the report included fluffs on “why” alignment is importance. The President doesn’t need the Treasury to endorse these principles. Instead, the report is expected to be an independent assessment about the existing financial regulatory environment, so the President may use it to form basis for his own ideas on what changes need to be made. Sadly, the proposition of this report seems skewed with 97 recommendations stuffed in appendix B. It’s like hijacking the President’s agenda/ action plan rather than facilitation!

Click here for full details.