Today’s post reacts to the news that the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) has removed AIG’s designation as a ‘Systemically Important Financial Institution’ (SIFI), which has the effect of lessening the regulation of the massive insurer that was at the heart of the Financial Crisis. In this post, the focus will be on that decision and how it plays into a growing deregulatory movement which is gaining strength all the time although, as we shall see, this ‘amnesia’ that is taking hold is based upon particularly short-sighted and overly-politicised ‘point-scoring’ which puts the very fragile financial system in great peril. It was announced on Friday that, technically, the giant insurer American International Group, more commonly known as AIG, is no longer ‘too big to fail’. The insurer, who at the height of the crisis was afforded an $85 billion bailout , was on Friday taken off the ‘systemically important financial institution’ list which conveys a number of increased ...

Today’s post reacts to the news that President Trump is seeking to ‘ cut corporate tax to 15% ’ from the current rate of 35%. The proposal, which was announced this week, represents what White House officials are labelling as the ‘ largest tax reform in US history ’ and which has its basis in the (supposed) aim of repatriating taxes on money that major US companies like Apple, Google, and Microsoft generate abroad. For this post the focus will be on the larger picture; specifically, the focus will be on the connection between this story and the fears that Brexit will promote the idea that Britain will set itself up as a tax-haven if it is shut out of the single market. The two developments, potentially, point to a much larger issue that has been mentioned time and time again here in Financial Regulation Matters – the escalation in divisiveness within modern politics is playing right into the hands of big business. The plans to cut the US Corporate Tax rate by a massive 20% have...

Yesterday, on Monday the 13 th of February, Steven Mnuchin was confirmed as Treasury Secretary within President Trump’s administration. Whilst the media have been quick to highlight previous unsavoury business practices implemented by Mnuchin, this post will look at the broader picture and, potentially, the confirmation’s effect upon the forthcoming future of American (and therefore global) financial regulation. Steven Mnuchin, confirmed to the position of Treasury Secretary by the narrow margin of 53-47 in the U.S. Senate, is having his previous actions during his time as CEO of OneWest Bank brought to the fore to cast doubt on his suitability as Treasury Secretary. OneWest Bank, which was previously IndyMac , was the organisation that Mnuchin reinvigorated, turning around its flailing fortunes after the height of the Financial Crisis - predicated upon its involvement in the mortgage securitisation scandal – ultimately selling the company for $3.4 billion in 2014. However, t...