DENVER – Lawmakers gathered here for the Democratic National Convention claim electing Sen. Barack Obama president would produce smarter, more sensible financial services policies that would quiet and strengthen a troubled market.
A range of House and Senate members told the American Banker, an affiliate of Credit Union Journal, that the Illinois Democrat would take a pragmatic approach in pushing for changes and in making regulatory appointments. "We are going to work together and I've talked to him," said House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank. "He supports the kind of market-friendly regulation we're talking about."
Rep. Rahm Emanuel, the House Democratic Caucus chairman, told American Banker he would expect significant changes to the regulatory structure under a President Obama. "There is going to be reform and there should be reform, because what's in place didn't work," Rep. Emanuel said. "More transparency, more accountability, so we don't have this opaqueness where nobody knows who owns what and where the bottom is."
In particular, Sen. Obama's commitment to tighten regulation of mortgage lenders would improve stability in the housing sector, lawmakers said. "With Obama I am sure there will be more oversight," said Rep. Charlie Wilson (D-Ohio), a member of the House Financial Services Committee and a former banker. "We won't have people who are not licensed making mortgage loans. We won't have the situation we have had in the past where people are just getting random people to do appraisals for them."
