U.S. Banking Sector One Step Closer to Super Regulator

The financial services industry should expect to be governed by a single regulator in the near future. According to a report in The Wall Street Journal, the Obama administration may recommend that Congress work on creating one regulator for the entire financial sector.

Plans are still in the very early stages, however, it is thought that the Office of Thrift Supervision and Office of the Comptroller of Currency would be combined and that the FDIC and Federal Reserve would be stripped of some of their current supervisory powers. However, the Fed and FDIC would gain new powers under the proposal, such as allowing the Fed the authority to over see systemic economic risk and giving the FDIC new powers to take large financial companies that aren't banks into receivership, noted the Journal.

The "super regulator" proposal is expected to be part of a broader announcement from Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner in which he will present his plan to overhaul the entire financial system's regulatory structure.

Still, the article continues, the Obama administration may not even approve a single regulatory body in the end, instead perhaps favoring a more streamlined approach to regulation.