Fed chief signals more aggressive stance toward banks

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Fed- eral Reserve may be about to turn more aggressive in its regulation of the financial system.

Fed chair Janet Yellen suggested Tuesday that cur- rent regulatory rules might not be enough to prevent the kind of risk-taking that triggered the 2008 financial crisis and nearly toppled the entire banking system.

She said the largest US banks may need to hold additional capital to withstand pe- riods of financial stress. Non-banks with deep reaches into the financial system might also need to meet tougher rules, she said. Such firms range from money market mutual funds to private equity and hedge funds.

Yellen told a banking conference in Atlanta that current rules on how much capital banks must hold to protect against losses don’t address all threats. The Fed’s staff is considering what further measures might be needed, she said.

At the same time, Yellen said the Fed would review the likely effects of impos- ing stricter rules on banks. Banks and their advocates have warned that further tightening bank regulation would lead to reduced lending to businesses and finan- cial institutions and could slow economic growth.

Analysts said Yellen’s message echoed remarks that Daniel Tarullo, a Fed gover- nor and the board’s point person on bank regulatory issues, has made in the past. They said it could be a sign that the Fed under Yellen will take a more assertive stance toward bank regulation.

In her speech, Yellen said further ac- tions to address risks, such as requiring firms to hold more capital, would likely apply only to the largest, most complex banks. But she suggested that other re- quirements could be applied more broad- ly to medium-size banks and non-bank financial institutions.

Karen Shaw Petrou, an analyst who heads Federal Financial Analytics in Washington, said Yellen also appeared to be signaling a desire to ensure that in tightening rules for big banks, regulators don’t just drive risky behavior into less regulated areas of the financial system. These areas are often called the shadow banking system.

“The threat is if all you do is regulate the big banks, the risk will move to the non- banks,” Petrou said. “Yellen is signaling that the Fed will seek to address that problem.”

Bert Ely, an independent banking con- sultant, said Yellen was indicating that the Fed plans to address the risk that parts of the financial system will exploit gaps in the rules.