Obama Presses Wall Street Executives On Regulatory Reform, Lending
December 14 2009 - 2:01PM
Dow Jones News
President Barack Obama pressed executives from the country's
biggest banks Monday to stop lobbying against his proposed
financial regulatory overhaul and help get the U.S. economy back on
its feet by boosting lending.
"I made very clear that I have no intention of letting their
lobbyists thwart reforms necessary to protect the American people,"
Obama said after meeting for more than one hour with the leaders of
12 banks. "If they wish to fight common-sense consumer protections,
that's a fight I'm more than willing to have."
Obama called the session, which was designed to remind banks of
the taxpayer assistance they received during the depths of the
financial crisis and talk about ways to boost lending to small
businesses, candid and productive. He said the banks' plans for
so-called second-look loan programs, more hiring, and increased
lending targets "sounded positive," but said the executives should
"go back and take a third and fourth look" and their small and
medium-sized business lending.
Amid increasing tension the administration and the financial
sector, Monday's meeting was a chance for both sides to clear the
air. Obama made his frustration with Wall Street clear hours before
the executives arrived at the White House, telling CBS's 60 Minutes
program that he didn't seek office to help "a bunch of fat cat
bankers."
Shortly after the meeting, US Bancorp (USB) CEO Richard Davis
described the gathering as "very productive," adding that "there
wasn't a lot of disagreement."
"He didn't call us any names," Davis said.
But Obama touched on the friction over regulatory reform, saying
banks need to close the gap between their public statements of
support for the effort and their lobbying against it on Capitol
Hill. All the executives at the table said they support reform,
Obama said.
Still, he said banks that benefited from taxpayer aid have a
"greater obligation" to create a system strong enough to avoid a
relapse of the crisis, urging them to work with Congress to pass
the overhaul.
"In the end, my interest isn't in vilifying any one person or
institution or industry. It's not to dictate to them or micromanage
their compensation practices," he said. "My job is to ensure that
consumers and the larger economy are protected from risky
speculation and predatory practices, that credit is flowing, that
businesses can grow and jobs are once again being created at the
pace we need."
In addition to US Bancorp's Davis, the meeting was attended by
Lloyd Blankfein of Goldman Sachs (GS); Ken Chenault of American
Express (AXP); Jamie Dimon of J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM);
Richard Fairbank of Capital One (COF); Bob Kelly of Bank of New
York Mellon (BK); Ken Lewis of Bank of America (BAC); Ron Logue of
State Street Bank (STT); John Mack of Morgan Stanley (MS); Richard
Parsons of Citigroup (C); Jim Rohr of PNC (PNC); and John Stumpf of
Wells Fargo (WFC).
Blankfein, Mack and Parsons participated via videoconference
after inclement weather kept them from traveling to Washington.
-By Henry J. Pulizzi, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-9256;
henry.pulizzi@dowjones.com
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