09/10/2008

News / PRESIDENT'S WORKING GROUP ISSUES FOURTH QUARTER POLICY STATEMENT UPDATE

The President's Working Group on Financial Markets issued its policy statement update today, before the G-7, IMF and World Bank meetings, to report on implementation of its March 2008 policy recommendations to improve the state of U.S. and global financial markets.

"This update to our March statement delivers on our commitment to report on the progress of these efforts and can inform our discussion with international finance ministers this weekend. While market participants and regulators alike have taken important steps, there is still much work to be done," said Secretary Henry M. Paulson, Jr. "This progress report demonstrates that as we work to address the immediate issues at hand, we also have been working to reduce the likelihood that mistakes of the past will be repeated."

In March, the PWG released its report on the causes of market turmoil and recommendations for mitigating systemic risk, restoring investor confidence, and facilitating stable economic growth. At that time, the PWG committed to providing the fourth-quarter progress report.

The Treasury Secretary serves as chair of the group, which includes the Federal Reserve Board, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The PWG, working with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, issued the statement in March to highlight key areas of focus and specific recommendations to mitigate the likelihood of repeating such turmoil.

Today's report notes that significant progress has been made in areas such as reforming the mortgage origination process, strengthening financial institutions' risk management practices, and enhancing supervisory policies.

Efforts have been prioritized to address the most immediate challenges. While progress must be made to address policy concerns, the pace of implementation must be balanced with a need to avoid exacerbating market problems.

Additionally, the progress report notes that it will take time to judge the effectiveness of some recommendations, such as the effectiveness of financial institutions' risk management practices and prudential supervisory efforts.

The report includes six sections describing progress towards implementing the recommendations:

* Reforms to the mortgage origination process
* Improvements to investors' contributions to market discipline
* Reforms to rating agencies' processes and practices for securitized and structured products
* Strengthening of global financial institutions' risk management practices
* Enhancements to prudential regulatory policies
* Enhancements to the infrastructure for OTC derivatives markets

When it issued its policy statement in March, the PWG recognized that market turmoil was still continuing and that subsequent events might demonstrate the need for additional recommendations. The PWG has and will continue to recommend and encourage actions to improve financial market stability, but does not believe that there is a need for additional specific recommendations at this time.

Recent market events have highlighted the importance and increased relevance of the March recommendations and the need to continue to move forward with implementation of the appropriate corrective measures, including the need for comprehensive regulatory reform of the ineffective existing financial regulatory structure in order to restore confidence in financial markets and institutions going forward.
http://www.treas.gov/press/releases/hp1192.htm

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