Treasury's Ryan Speaks at SIFMA Meeting

Acting Under Secretary for Domestic Finance Anthony Ryan spoke on October 28 at the SIFMA Annual Meeting to provide an update on the state of the capital markets and the global economy, and on Treasury's efforts to implement the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act, the EESA.  Ryan stated the obvious:

Today, we are experiencing the repercussions of this unbridled expansion and access to credit. We needed to strike a balance between strong market discipline and regulatory oversight and we have not. Investor confidence was undermined, illiquidity then compromised our credit markets, and now the housing and financial market turmoil has spilled over into the rest of the U.S. economy.

Ryan goes on to set forth the government's efforts to date and concludes:

We remain vigilant as Americans face strong headwinds in this challenging financial environment. We will focus on addressing or mitigating immediate problems while being mindful that longer term regulatory reform is critical to our continued status as the world's preeminent capital market. Our Blueprint and the PWG's reports clearly outlined some of the changes that need to be addressed. Maintaining the balance between regulatory measures and market discipline is critical to highly efficient markets. Most importantly, such a balance fosters market confidence. There is important work for all of us and I appreciate your efforts and dedication. Thank you.