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 [讨论]技术前瞻：美股或将现中期底,反弹之前可能出现清除弱手的震仓行情 |
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good points. plus the u.s. gov. printed so many green papers -- 黄埔半期 - (82 Byte) 2008-6-27 周五, 08:19 (269 reads) |
theoretical
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作者：theoretical 在 海归商务 发贴, 来自【海归网】 http://www.haiguinet.com
Fed May Ease Rules on Private Equity Bank Stakes: WSJ
By Reuters | 26 Jun 2008 | 05:32 PM ET
The U.S. Federal Reserve is considering steps to make it easier for private-equity firms and others to invest in banks, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, a move that could open the door to more capital for cash-starved banks.
The Fed is expected to offer more clarity about what exactly outside investors can and can't do when they want to acquire sizable stakes in financial institutions but avoid direct regulatory supervision, the Journal said in a report on its website, citing regulators and other people familiar with the matter.
"We are looking at ways we can make those things more workable and gain from the experience we've had over the past few years," Federal Reserve general counsel Scott Alvarez told the paper.
Federal Reserve officials were not immediately available to comment on the report.
Any easing of obstacles to private equity firms making sizable investments in banks could be a catalyst for cash infusions. That has the potential to relieve some of the pressure on lenders, many of which need to shore up balance sheets amid the worst banking crisis in decades, the paper said.
Banks have raised money from government investment funds, mutual funds and other investors, often through public offerings of stock or other securities.
There are indications that the capital pool is starting to dry up at a time when many financial institutions are still bleeding.
Fed officials recently have met with big buyout firms, including J.C. Flowers, Carlyle Group, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Warburg Pincus, and banking lawyers to discuss the obstacles, according to people familiar with the matter.
In an opion article in Thursday's printed edition of the Journal, Carlyle directors Randal Quarles and Olivier Sarkozy, said private equity firms stand ready to invest in the bank sector should the restrictions get eased.
Under federal law, to own more than 24.9 percent of a bank, an entity must register as a bank holding company, which is subject to heavy regulation and can be forced to serve as a "source of strength" for the bank, the Journal said.
Ownership of more than 9.9 percent of a bank also subjects the entity to regulatory scrutiny to ensure that it isn't controlling—or even influencing—the bank's operations.
The Fed can't change those laws, but it has room to maneuver in how it interprets them.
WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- The U.S. House of Representatives - on a day when crude oil prices hit a record high - voted Thursday to order the nation's energy market regulator to use its emergency powers to immediately curb excessive energy market speculation.
The 402-19 vote was in favor of a bill that calls on the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to more aggressively police the energy markets it oversees.
The overwhelming vote indicates that both parties want the CFTC to step up its review of whether speculation is contributing to rising prices and be prepared to take dramatic steps. Those steps could range from increasing the amount of money that traders must put down to bet on the direction of energy prices to temporarily shutting down the markets.
"Speculation is part of the problem," said Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md. Forcing the CFTC to use its emergency powers "opens up a whole set of new tools that they are not using."
It isn't clear that the bill will make it into law. The U.S. Senate won't take up the bill until next month at the earliest, and many people are betting it won't get past the Senate. Even then there is the risk that both chambers would need a two-thirds majority to override a presidential veto.
While the White House hasn't said whether it would veto the bill, the Bush administration has downplayed the role of speculation and maintained that oil prices are rising because of growing worldwide demand.
"The CFTC has the appropriate authority and oversight to review energy markets," said White House spokesman Tony Fratto. "The most important factor in rising oil prices is increasing global demand."
The vote came on a day when crude oil futures hit a record above $140 a barrel after OPEC's president said prices could rise above $150 a barrel.
Some lawmakers say that prices that have more than doubled over the past year are due in part to a flood of money entering the commodity futures markets.
Wall Street firms are concerned about the talk of further congressional action. They have been making a case that speculation is not the same thing as manipulation, and arguing that speculators are necessary for markets to function. Their lobbying appears to have helped shape many of the bills floating around Capitol Hill, but has been unable to fully thwart Congress amid ever- rising prices.
Speculators account for an estimated 70% of trading in U.S. markets, up from about 57% three years ago, according to the CFTC.
But the CFTC has said that it isn't clear whether speculators are driving up prices, since some people may be betting that prices will fall, while others may be betting that prices will rise. The agency has promised to report to Congress by mid-September on the role played a category of trader known as swaps dealers - the big Wall Street banks involved in energy trading.
But that is not quick enough for lawmakers, who head back to their districts for the U.S. Independence Day holiday expecting an earful from constituents. Voter frustration is evident in a series of letters written to the Federal Trade Commission, which is currently studying whether it should write rules to ban manipulation in the oil industry. "We, the people, are tired of the manipulation of the market by third parties," wrote someone who identified himself as Johnny Herring from Arkansas. "Oil should not be traded as it is now."
The bill will take the CFTC "off the slow pace of collecting data," said Michael Greenberger, a former CFTC official. "This says quickly look into the question of whether these markets are unhinged from supply-demand principles, and gives them the power for imposing margin limits, speculation limits. They've often used emergency powers to impose moratoria on trading, even barring certain contracts from being traded."
Regulators would also be able to take a look at over-the-counter markets, which are traditionally off-limits to the CFTC. And emergency powers would give them more ability to look at trading on overseas exchanges that operate through trading terminals ba<x>sed in the U.S.
The U.S. Senate may take up a similar measure later this summer, according to a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. With numerous bills dealing with energy market speculation under consideration, it isn't clear which measure, if any, might become law.
CFTC spokeswoman Ianthe Zabel said Wednesday that the agency "is implementing a number of initiatives to enhance market oversight and transparency in the energy futures markets and recently disclosed our ongoing nationwide crude oil investigation."
The CFTC has already stepped up its oversight, including through an agreement with U.K. regulators that gives the agency access to information about trading in a key oil contract on the IntercontinentalExchange Inc. (NYSE:ICE) (ICE)'s ICE Futures Europe. The exchange - whose data centers are located in Chicago but which is ba<x>sed nominally in London - also agreed to set limits on trading in its oil contract that are comparable to the limits on Nymex Holdings Inc.'s (NYSE:NMX) (NMX) New York Mercantile Exchange.
The bill is H.R. 6377.
-By Siobhan Hughes, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-6654; Siobhan.Hughes@ dowjones.com
Corrected Thursday, June 26, 2008 18:59 ET (22:59 GMT)
Trading by Wall Street swaps dealers on behalf of financial investors and commodity companies, along with non-commercial traders such as hedge funds, accounts for an estimated 70% of trading in U.S. markets, up from about 57% three years ago, according to the CFTC.
作者：theoretical 在 海归商务 发贴, 来自【海归网】 http://www.haiguinet.com
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