Geithner: Financial Reform on Track

Treasury secretary Tim Geithner says the financial services revamp is well underway and that the practices that led to the financial crisis are fading away.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Geithner says plans to overhaul financial-market regulation were on track. He also played down claims by critics that it was back to "business as usual" on Wall Street.

"I don't think the financial system is reverting to past practice, and we won't let that happen," Mr. Geithner told the Journal. "The big banks are running with much less leverage now, much more conservative liquidity cushions, there's been a significant shrinking of their balance sheets, getting rid of bad assets and cleaning up. And the weakest parts of the system don't exist anymore."

Geithner said the administration's proposed regulatory revamp would offer better protection with the Federal Reserve overseeing the country's largest financial institutions, a new regulator for mortgages and credit cards, and tougher oversight of credit derivatives and hedge funds.

For more, see Geithner Sees Good Vital Signs.