As
Morgan
Keegan Sells
Out to Raymond
James, Recess
Appointment
for FRB?
By
Matthew
R. Lee
SOUTH
BRONX,
January 11 --
As the biggest
bank merger of
2012 so far
was
announced
Wednesday,
Morgan Keegan
for sale to
Raymond James
for $930
million,
Morgan
Keegan's
recent
settlement of
subprime
related fraud
charges was
not lost on
community
activists.
Would it be
raised to
regulator? Why
not?
But
who
will the
regulators be?
President
Barack Obama
showed himself
willing to use
a recess
appointment to
put Richard
Cordray atop
the
Consumer
Financial
Protection
Bureau,
which seems to
have no merger
review role.
It is argued
that Obama
"had" to
nominate
a Deutsche
Bank and
Carlyle Group
hedge fund
insider, Jay
Powell, to
the Federal
Reserve as
a condition of
getting a
Democrat also
confirmed.
Meanwhile
Democratic
representatives
are urging
Obama to offer
a recess
appointment
for a new head
of the Federal
Housing
Finance
Agency.
Twenty eight
congressmembers
from
California
signed a
January 10
letter, which
argued that
Obama should
use the same
legal
justification
for appointing
a new director
at the
agency that he
applied to
Cordray and
the CFPB.
"As
the
fiduciary of
government-backed
entities,
there are
steps that the
FHFA can take
to help
prevent
foreclosures
while also
protecting
taxpayers,"
they wrote.
"Installing a
permanent
Director of
the FHFA will
allow the FHFA
to move
forward to
make key
decisions
that will help
keep families
in their homes
and improve
our economy."
Some
wonder
why this logic
isn't applied
to the Federal
Reserve Board,
where Obama
supporters
argue that he
"had" to
nominate a
hedge fund
insider Jay
Powell in
order to get
any
confirmation.
Fed
board
including
Warsh,
conflict of
interest
protections
not shown
The
Fed is
reportedly
preparing to
rubber stamp
Capital One's
application
to acquire ING
DIRECT,
protested by
NCRC, Fair
Finance Watch
and others,
even as
Capital One's
lawyers try to
withhold
the most
substantial
portions of
their
responses to
the Fed,
including on
Capital One's
related
application to
the Office of
the
Comptroller of
the Currency
to buy from
HSBC the
subprime
credit card
platform of
the former
Household
International,
charged with
nationside
predatory
lending. Why?
And
why
shift Obama's
chief of staff
position from
a former
official of
JP Morgan
Chase to one
of...
Citigroup?
Watch this
site -- and
Occupy
Congress on
January 17.
, 
