Schumer Wants Treasury To Approve Bank Mergers, By Victoria McGrane – CBS News
(The Politico) Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), after blasting Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson’s handling of the $700 billion bailout, called for Treasury to be charged with approving any mergers or acquisitions among financial institutions that have received some of taxpayer dollars from that bailout.
Schumer and other lawmakers are wary that banks that have received capital injections from Treasury are using the money to buy competitors, boost executive compensation or just plain hoarding the cash, rather than lending it out as was intended.
Schumer, speaking during a hearing of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, said Treasury should turn down proposals to merge if it finds that the banks are using the bailout funds to finance the deal.
On executive compensation, Chairman Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) warned companies that want to “conduct business as usual” with their compensation policies: “If you believe that you would be no worse off than you are today [without taxpayer money], then I invite you to return to the Treasury the billions of dollars in taxpayer investments, guarantees and discounts that you currently receive, and I wish you well as you try to make it on your own.”
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Tags: Treasury, bailout, wall street, financial market, mortgage, subprime., foreclosure,
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