WASHINGTON — Deputy Treasury Secretary Neal Wolin pushed back Tuesday against criticism that regulators are moving too quickly to implement the Dodd-Frank Act, saying the agencies must take action as expeditiously as possible.
"We are doing so quickly, carefully and responsibly," Wolin said in a speech at the Pew Charitable Trusts in Washington. "We will continue to do so in the face of these criticisms. And we will continue to oppose efforts to slow down, weaken or repeal these essential reforms."
During a question and answer session, Wolin also defended the transparency of the Financial Stability Oversight Council in response to questions about the lack of details surrounding its rule-making process. At a Congressional hearing last week, members of both parties criticized representatives from the council, and said they were concerned about how it will designate institutions as systemically important.
"FSOC has already been more transparent than any regulatory body I can think of," Wolin said.
He noted that the council has issued two proposals offering details on how regulators plan to designate systemically important financial institutions, but have not received many comments. In response, one lobbyist interrupted, saying, "Because there was no substance."
Mariana Gomez, a lobbyist for Farmers Insurance Group, said after the speech that the notice merely "parroted" the language in Dodd-Frank, and gave no indication of how the council may actually target large nonbanks.
