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ECONOMIC REPORT OF THE PRESIDENT

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egulators can take a more holistic view of the financial system and properly<br />

identify and act on sources of risk to the system.<br />

Individual bank failures can have negative impacts on their customers<br />

and the communities that they serve. Deposit insurance is meant to protect<br />

depositors and mitigate run-risk while FDIC resolution is meant to mitigate<br />

the impact of a bank failure on customers and communities. Regulation also<br />

seeks to minimize the impact of a bank failure on the financial system more<br />

broadly.<br />

Promoting financial stability requires identifying potential sources of<br />

risk to the financial system. One issue the crisis revealed was the patchwork<br />

nature of U.S. financial supervision. While regulators may have been able to<br />

consider the safety of a particular institution, they often lacked the perspective<br />

to consider systemic issues.9 The Dodd-Frank Act established a new<br />

body to fill this regulatory gap, the Financial Stability Oversight Council<br />

(FSOC). The FSOC has a clear mandate that creates for the first time collective<br />

accountability for identifying risks and responding to emerging threats<br />

to financial stability. It is a collaborative body chaired by the Secretary of the<br />

Treasury that brings together the expertise of the Federal financial regulators,<br />

an independent insurance expert appointed by the President, and state<br />

regulators. Dodd-Frank also established the Office of Financial Research<br />

(<strong>OF</strong>R) to support the FSOC by looking across the financial system to measure<br />

and analyze risk, perform essential research, and collect and standardize<br />

financial data.<br />

Shadow Banking and Regulatory Gaps<br />

Since its establishment by the Dodd-Frank Act, the FSOC has worked<br />

to identify non-bank financial institutions that are systemically risky to<br />

9 The U.S. financial regulatory apparatus consists of numerous agencies, each of which has a<br />

distinct, though quite closely related, jurisdiction. A useful way to organize these agencies is<br />

to categorize them into prudential bank regulators and market regulators. Prudential bank<br />

regulators focus on specific financial institutions and ensure compliance with applicable risk<br />

management and prudential rules. Within this category, the Federal Reserve Board regulates<br />

all banks that are part of the Federal Reserve System and regulated BHCs. It also sets reserve<br />

requirements, serves as the lender of last resort to banks, and assesses the overall soundness<br />

of bank and BHC balance sheets, often in concert with other regulators. The Federal Deposit<br />

Insurance Corporation (FDIC) provides deposit insurance for depositors and regulates state<br />

banks that are not Federal Reserve System members. The Office of the Comptroller of the<br />

Currency (part of the Treasury Department) regulates national banking institutions and seeks<br />

to foster both safety and competition within the national banking system. The main market<br />

regulators are the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures<br />

Trading Commission (CFTC). The SEC regulates securities exchanges, brokers, dealers, mutual<br />

funds and investment advisers among other market participants. It enforces securities laws<br />

and regulates the buying and selling of securities and securities-based derivatives. The CFTC<br />

specifically regulates futures, commodity, options, and swap markets, including the exchanges,<br />

dealers, and other intermediaries that constitute these markets.<br />

Strengthening the Financial System | 385

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