Big Time Dem At Center Of NYC Bank Collapse
Barney Frank, the retired congressman who famously authored the Dodd–Frank Act to tighten bank regulations after the 2008 financial crisis, is now at the center of the latest US banking disaster.
The 82–year–old Democrat is on the board of directors at Signature Bank, a New York lender that was shuttered by state regulators over the weekend, becoming the industry’s third major casualty since Silicon Valley Bank was abruptly shuttered on Friday and the crypto–focused Silvergate Capital shut down a week earlier.
Frank, who served as chair of the House Financial Services Committee during the 2008 crisis and was “instrumental” in creating the $550 billion bailout for banks, recently spoke with Bloomberg about the shock closure of his former employer.
“Digital currency was the new element entered into our system,” Frank told Bloomberg. “A new and potentially destabilizing element is introduced into the financial system. What we get are three failures.
“ Frank, who received $121,750 in cash compensation for his work on Signature’s board, as well as $180,182 in stock awards, in 2020, also argued that regulators’ move to shut down the bank was overly aggressive.
“I think that if we’d been allowed to open tomorrow, that we could’ve continued — we have a solid loan book, we’re the biggest lender in New York City under the low–income housing tax credit,” he said. “I think the bank could’ve been a going concern.”
Frank’s views on financial regulation have shifted since his time in Congress. In a Politico op–ed, he explained that it was good for Democrats to accept money from Wall Street, “For liberals to demonize those who do so is a needless self–inflicted wound for their cause.”
The federal government’s announcement of Signature Bank’s failure comes as regulators rush to stem the losses caused by last week’s collapse of Silicon Valley Bank. It remains to be seen what, if any, lasting impact the bank’s closure will have on the US banking sector and the legacy of Barney Frank.
What do you make of reports that former Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA), the author of the 2010 Dodd-Frank bill, sat on the board for Signature Bank which collapsed in the wake of the Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) implosion?
Meanwhile, President @JoeBiden, the U.S. Treasury Department, the… https://t.co/a085OjPrfw pic.twitter.com/EQNZUFNdHX
— Simon Ateba (@simonateba) March 13, 2023
