Congress should consider creating an entity that would oversee "complex, internationally active" financial services companies but leave most of the current regulatory system in place.[@@]
That's the assessment of a team of researchers at the U.S. Government Accountability Office.
The team, led by Thomas McCool, the GAO's managing director for financial markets and community investment, reviewed the state of U.S. financial services regulation for Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., the chairman of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee.
Current U.S. state and federal regulatory systems have not failed, but they are fragmented, and they work better on some levels than on others, the McCool team concludes in a summary of its findings.
Moreover, "from time to time, regulators engage in jurisdictional disputes that can distract them from focusing on their primary missions," the GAO researchers write.
