WASHINGTON – Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., issued the following statement today following a speech by SEC Commissioner Kara Stein calling on the Securities and Exchange Commission to complete work on the rulemakings required by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act and to direct greater SEC attention to systemic risk and capital and liquidity requirements. Levin is chairman of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, which held hearings and issued a lengthy report on key causes of the financial crisis and helped provide a factual foundation for enactment of the law.
“Today’s speech by SEC Commissioner Kara Stein is right on target. The SEC has been the slowest financial regulatory agency to get the legally required Dodd-Frank safeguards in place and to address systemic risk issues. Four years after the law went on the books, the SEC still hasn’t finalized rules to stop financial firms from betting against their clients, ensure swap dealers have adequate capital, or cure the conflicts of interest undermining the reliability of credit ratings. The SEC needs to stop procrastinating and get the job done.”