Capital Briefs: Too Many Swaps Rules Seen Increasing Risks

Excessively firm regulation of risk management tools such as derivatives may actually increase the potential for bank failures, Comptroller of the Currency Eugene A. Ludwig said Friday.

There is a "potential to tempt bank managers to turn over their safety and soundness responsibilities to the regulator," Mr. Ludwig told the European Institute, a Washington-based group dedicated to strengthening ties between the United States and Europe.

"This, in turn, saps management's willingness to use its own creativity and ingenuity to ensure safe and sound operations," Mr. Ludwig added. "In an industry so dominated by technological change, no institution can abdicate its ability to stay on the razor's edge of innovation in any area - particularly risk management."

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