The SIFMA Podcast

In a speech delivered on Friday January 16, Vice Chairman for Supervision of the Federal Reserve Randal Quarles laid out a suite of changes he intends to make to the central Bank’s oversight of financial institutions, particularly around transparency, accountability, and fairness. In this podcast, we discuss his proposed changes and what they could mean for U.S. capital markets.

The Dodd-Frank Act requires large financial institutions to submit resolution plans. In this podcast, SIFMA's Joe Seidel and Carter McDowell discuss significant milestones achieved and what they mean for the U.S. capital markets.

The passage of bipartisan legislation, the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement – better known as the SECURE Act - marks the biggest legislative change to America’s retirement system in more than a dozen years. In this podcast, SIFMA president and CEO Kenneth E. Bentsen, Jr. and SIFMA managing director and associate general counsel, Lisa Bleier, explain what the SECURE Act means for retirement savers.

Under the Consolidated Audit Trail, or CAT, broker-dealers will be required to report every equity and options transaction, as well as certain personal information of retail and institutional clients, to a database operated by 24 SROs.SIFMA and its members are supportive of the CAT and its regulatory intent – however, we have repeatedly expressed strong concerns regarding the risks to customer information. Data security must be a paramount concern with a database this large.In this podcast, SIFMA president and CEO, Kenneth E. Bentsen, Jr. is joined by SIFMA’s Ellen Greene to discuss the risks posed by the CAT, who bears the liability in the event of a data breach and why reasonable access limits are needed now.For more information, visit www.sifma.org/consolidated-audit-trail

Welcome to SIFMA’s podcast from our annual State of the Industry media briefing. In this segment, our leadership discusses the state of the capital markets and priority issues for the financial services industry in 2019. Please welcome the Chair of our Board of Directors, Joseph E. Sweeney, President of Advice & Wealth Management, Products and Service Delivery for Ameriprise Financial and SIFMA’s President and CEO, Kenneth E. Bentsen, Jr.

SIFMA's survey of chief U.S. economists forecasts that the U.S. economy will grow by 2.2% in 2019, with a decrease to 1.8% in 2020. U.S. trade policy, business confidence in the U.S., and private credit market conditions were among the most important considerations in the forecast change. Ellen Zentner, Managing Director and Chief U.S. Economist for Morgan Stanley and Chair of SIFMA's Economic Advisory Roundtable discusses the results from our latest survey. Read the full report: https://www.sifma.org/resources/research/us-economic-outlook-survey-end-year-2019/

Quantum Dawn V, a global cybersecurity exercise coordinated by SIFMA, was completed on November 7, 2019. What scenario did participants respond to? In this podcast, SIFMA president and CEO, Kenneth E. Bentsen, Jr. is joined by Tom Price, SIFMA Managing Director, Operations, Technology & BCP and Tom Wagner, SIFMA Managing Director, Financial Services Operations and Technology. Together, they describe the main takeaways immediately following the exercise and the next steps in communicating the lessons learned with the Financial Services industry. The exercise was carried out with over 700 individuals from over 200 financial institutions and government agencies around the globe—including participants from Australia, Canada, Europe, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia, Japan, Singapore, and the U.S.For more, visit www.sifma.org/cybersecurity/

The FTT or financial transaction tax—a tax on trades of stocks, bonds, and derivatives—is a tax on investors. The imposition of an FTT would increase costs and lower returns for Americans saving for retirement, college, homes, and other investment ideals. FTTs have never lived up to expectations, but instead have only served to increase volatility, harm capital markets, increase costs, and hurt economic growth.In this podcast, Ken Bentsen, SIFMA President and CEO, is joined by Jamie Wall, EVP, Advocacy at SIFMA, and Katie Kolchin, CFA, Head of Research at SIFMA. Together, they discuss the failed history of FTTs, real world case studies, and how an FTT would negatively affect American workers and the economy.For more, visit https://www.sifma.org/financial-transaction-tax.

On October 8, the five federal financial regulatory agencies responsible for the Volcker rule announced they finalized revisions to simplify its compliance requirements. While the revisions do not in any way negate the statutory prohibition on proprietary trading by banks, they do provide market participants with much-needed clarity on compliance issues.In this podcast, SIFMA president and CEO, Kenneth E. Bentsen, Jr. is joined by Robert Toomey, Managing Director and Associate General Counsel for SIFMA. Together, they explain why these revisions - such as the removal of an accounting prong - are important to the markets and the economy.For more, visit www.sifma.org/volcker.

The U.S. housing market is a critical piece of the general economy. It represents one-fifth of U.S. GDP and 35% of all private, non-financial debt in the country.The U.S. Treasury Department just announced that Fannie and Freddie will retain their earnings, a step in moving the companies out of conservatorship and back into the private sector. In this podcast, SIFMA president and CEO, Kenneth E. Bentsen, Jr. is joined by Chris Killian - Managing Director and head of SIFMA's securitization practice. Together, they explain how that one small move fits into the Administration's overall goals for housing finance reform.Learn more about this issue at www.sifma.org.