The Securities Act of '09?

At GlobalRiskJobs we focus on professionals in the risk management and regulatory compliance communities. For quite awhile we have been anticipating that more intense regulation and reporting (and hence more demand for such professionals) would be the ultimate payback for all of the government money that has been used to stabilize the financial system. Well, since the Obama administration took office two weeks ago, it has been hard to miss the drumbeat of regulation and government oversight that has been getting louder. Alison Fitzgerald and Alison Vekshin of Bloomberg News have written a piece that consolidates that belief in a huge revision of securities laws. The authors anticipate the biggest overhaul of financial regulation since Roosevelt created the FDIC and the SEC in the 1930s. Pres. Obama is, in fact, discussing reregulation this week with congressional leaders, and topics include controls on unregulated hedge funds, new rules for executive pay and restricting naked credit default swaps. NYU-Stern professor Robert Engle suggests that this is a "major moment", a situation so unique that it offers the ability to make a huge impact. And Sen. Chris Dodd, Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee went on record yesterday as saying Congress will consider creating regulators to enforce consumer protections and monitor systemic risk as lawmakers rewrite the rules on Wall Street. In the House, Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank said he planned to start the overhaul with legislation that makes the Federal Reserve the systemic-risk regulator. And former Fed Chairman and current presidential advisor Paul Volcker said hedge funds and private equity firms should be required to register with the SEC to increase transparency. So it appears that public opinion has swung so far as to put EVERYTHING on the table. We've said it before but it bears repeating. New regulation means consulting jobs as companies seek help figuring out what it all means, and more new jobs when those consultants leave and the companies need people to keep up with those requirements.

A tour of the headlines today:

• Bernard Madoff rejected a fund's demand for an outside audit, saying his fund's strategy was so secret only his brother could do that. Linda Sandler reports.
• More color on the U.S. government pressure on BofA to complete the Merrill acquisition in the Wall Street Journal.
• A.I.G.'s securities lending business was also a key contributor to its demise, according to the WSJ.
• A WSJ editorial says that lost in the executive pay hoopla is a dangerous toxic asset guarantee debate.
• The SEC took a beating on Capitol Hill yesterday at the Madoff Hearing.
• The head of risk management at a hedge fund seems to have fallen down on the job.
• A 45% decline in syndicated loans in Europe is leading companies to pay higher fees to lock in bank loans years before they expire.
• The FT reports on details of Deutsche Bank's 4Q trading hit.
• A good story on being George Soros by Chrystia Freeland of FT.