Bloomberg Schumer Report

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Senator Charles Schumer (D.N.Y.) today released a lengthy report prepared by McKinsey & Co. calling for changes to legal rules in order to keep New York City the world's leading financial center.  The study used interviews with fifty financial section CEOs.  The report found that the United States has recently lost global market share in the financial services industry and concluded with detailed recommendations on legal changes to stem the slide.  The authors call for, among other things, changes to Sarbanes-Oxley, easing immigration restrictions on financial service industry participants, limits on punitive damage awards, increased arbitration of securities disputes, and a merger of the SEC and CFTC.   It is a measure of the severity of the problem when on sees New York liberal Democrats, who often favor increased government regulation and participation in economic matters, advocate what is traditionally a Republican position on regulations specific to the finanicial services industry. The report echos themes in a report issued last year by the Committee on Capital Markets Regulation, led by former Bush administration officials (Glenn Hubbard and John Thornton).