A Valuable U.S. Export: Banking Regulations
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Feb. 18 (Bloomberg) -- By this point in the economicrecovery, the biggest U.S. banks had expected the pressure fromregulators to abate. In the aftermath of a major financialcrisis, there is usually a turn toward tighter rules, and banksnaturally build up their equity buffers after near-deathexperiences.
It is standard practice, at this point in the credit cycle,for bank advocates to claim that a great deal has changed, thatbanks have more equity capital than at any time in recent memoryand that governments need to ease up on the rules if they wantcredit to expand and growth to take hold.