Polls support Volcker Rule
Commentary: Voters want an end to proprietary trading by banks
MarketWatch First Take
Feb. 19, 2010, 12:20 p.m. EST
marketwatch.com
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- You've heard of zombie banks, how about zombie bank reform?
The legislation in question is the so-called Volcker Rule, the president's proposed limit on bank activities. After all but being thrown off Capitol Hill, Paul Volcker's plan to cut proprietary trading, hedge funds and private equity out of banks appeared nearly dead.
Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., might want to take note: people like the Volcker Rule.
A poll released Friday shows 68% of respondents said they support proposals to separate these businesses from banks. The poll, conducted by the CFA Institute of its members, also found that 58% of respondents support measures to rein in banks considered too big to fail. See CFA poll results (PDF file).
The poll of 1,471 respondents also suggested they're unhappy with the pace of reform in Washington: 67% said the government had made "little progress" in reforming Wall Street, as opposed to just 24% who said "some progress" had been made, CFA said.
"They want banks to focus on their specialty -- taking deposits and making loans," Jim Allen, CFA Institute's head of capital markets policy, said in a statement.
The poll may be a warning to Sens. Shelby, Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., and Bob Corker, R-Tenn., all of whom who have expressed objections to the plan, that voters are unhappy with the pace of change and may hold them or fellow lawmakers running for reelection accountable.
Just when many of them thought their political lives were safe, along comes zombie reform.
-- David Weidner |
