Volcker Speaks at WSJ Pro Financial Regulation Conference

Paul A. Volcker, founder and chairman of the Volcker Alliance, held a dialogue with Jacob M. Schlesinger, editor for financial regulation at The Wall Street Journal, at the WSJ Pro Financial Regulation’s conference Taking Stock, Looking Ahead. The event, at the Four Seasons Hotel in New York, also featured a post-crisis analysis with Sheila Bair, an Alliance director and president of Washington College.

Among other topics, Mr. Volcker addressed the need to reform and strengthen the Financial Stability Oversight Council, as recommended in the Alliance’s report Reshaping the Financial Regulatory System. He also reiterated other proposals to reorganize and rationalize the supervisory system, including the role of the SEC in regulation of broker dealers—“which is the heart of the system.” He said that the Alliance will be releasing another focused on the non-bank sector, often referred to as “shadow banking.”

Mr. Volcker also spoke about regulation of asset managers, implementation of the Volcker Rule, and the need for the Vice Chair of Supervision position at the Federal Reserve Board of Governors to be institutionalized. Explaining the intent of the Volcker Rule to limit the public backstop for speculation, not trading, he pithily remarked to the audience: “Go and speculate all you like, but not on my dime.”