Obama Blocking Financial Regulation | FT.com

While President Obama is trotting out Paul Volcker State-side for photo ops proclaiming the need for financial regulation, his treasury secretary is over in Europe fighting to block regulation that would restrict secret trading in toxic derivatives, supposedly because it will "impose barriers to business" -- the same old, pro-Wall Street argument used to justify the de-regulation that led to the world banking collapse in the first place. 

Remember, when the Bush43 SEC decided to let Wall St. Banks police themselves, it helped Goldman Sachs, Citibank and JP Morgan get around European oversight by assuring the Europeans that those firms were being regulated in the U.S. In effect, Obama and Geither are telling the E.U., "trust us again; it worked really well last time." 

From the Financial Times: "The British prime minister shares the concerns of Tim Geithner, US treasury secretary, that a draft EU directive to introduce tighter regulatory controls could impose new barriers to business.

"London believes that French cultural opposition to hedge funds lies behind the drive to clamp down on the operation of “alternative investment funds”. British officials say Mr Brown will discuss the issue when he meets the French president in London on Friday, ahead of an EU summit this month.

"The debate over the shape of financial regulation and the EU directive has raised transatlantic tensions.

"Mr Geithner, in a letter to Michel Barnier, Europe’s internal market commissioner, voiced concern about “various proposals that would discriminate against US firms”.

"The US has stopped short of threatening retaliatory action. However, if the directive becomes law in its current form, Europe-based fund managers could face reprisals in the US Congress for what is being seen as an attempt to dictate the global regulatory landscape.

"Senior EU officials hit back on Thursday at the US criticism. A spokesman for Michel Barnier, the new EU internal market commissioner who is responsible for financial services regulation and to whom Mr Geithner addressed his concerns, said that the EU decision to act on hedge funds was in line with a G20 decision to reinforce transparency in the financial system.

via www.ft.com