The Shadow Financial Regulatory Committee (SFRC) is a group of publicly recognized independent experts on the financial services industry—including banking, insurance and securities—who meet regularly to study and critique regulatory policies affecting this sector of the economy.

Has the latest round of U.S. banking reform ensured the stability of U.S. banks ordoes the probability and cost of future bank and financial crises need to be further reduced?

The financial crisis of 2007-09 cost taxpayers in the United States and Europe the equivalent of some 25 percent of world GDP in guarantees and subsidies tomaintain financial stability. This has prompted a major rethinking by governments, financial regulators and central banks of how financial institutions and markets should be supervised and regulated.

It is important for people across the political spectrum to enact a bill that would change the preelection transition process, which would help future presidents and provide better government to the country.

The current financial turmoil has brought into greater focus the political danger to the Federal Reserve of being responsible both for economic and financial stability and for day-to-day regulation and supervision of financial markets and institutions, including consumer protection.

The loss of expertise, insight and institutional memory--not to mention fundamental decency--that comes with the departures is painful to those of us who care about Congress.

At this luncheon briefing, the SFRC, a group of independent experts on the financial services industry, issued a statement and answered questions.