On April 13, 2012, the US Department of the Treasury released new cost estimates for the Troubled Asset Relief Program. Looking principally at actual and projected contractual cash flows, the document concludes that: "Overall, the government is now expected to at least break even on its financial stability programs and may realize a positive return." 

With the recent publication of its final rule, the federal government's Financial Stability Oversight Council is now in position to designate certain nonbank firms as "systemically important financial institutions" (SIFIs). There is probably no aspect of the Dodd-Frank Act that will have more damaging effects on competition in the U.S. financial system.

Peter Wallison on new regulations based on the bogus belief that the cause of the financial crisis was the interconnectedness of financial institutions.

The Group of Twenty (G-20) asked the Financial Stability Board (FSB) to devise a process for identifying Globally Systemic International Banks (G-SIB).  In July the FSB released a consultative document setting forth the methodology for identifying G-SIBs and in November produced its first list using this methodology.

The financial crisis was caused not by Lehman’s failure but by a common shock to all financial institutions that were holding privately issued mortgage-backed securities based on subprime loans. The way to prevent future financial crises is to prevent future common shocks.

Identifying firms as too big to fail is a mad policy: It will signal to the world that the government will take steps to prevent the failure of these firms, giving them advantages in the marketplace.

On the heel of the recent JP Morgan fiasco, American Enterprise Economist John Makin makes the case for how Dodd-Frank is an insufficient guarantor of financial stability.

The Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) recently released two studies as required by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.