WASHINGTON - Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan urged regulators Monday to resist heavy-handed regulation of emerging trends in the financial services industry.
Mr. Greenspan's remarks came in a speech prepared for delivery to the group Women in Housing and Finance.
"The impact of technology on financial services and therefore, of necessity, on supervision and regulation is the critical issue that frames the supervisory agenda as we move into the 21st century," he said.
"For policymakers, supervisors, and regulators, I would only suggest some general guidelines for the coming years," Mr. Greenspan said. "Proceed cautiously, facilitate and participate in prudent innovation, allow markets to signal the winners and losers among competing technologies and market structures, and overall - as the medical profession is advised - do no harm."
