Larsen Statement on the Swaps Regulatory Improvement Act

Statement

Rep. Rick Larsen, WA-02, issued the following statement regarding the Swaps Regulatory Improvement Act. Larsen voted for the bill that addresses concerns that a section of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 will move financial swaps outside of the United States or away from banks to less-regulated entities. The bill passed on a bipartisan basis.

"Big banks put big profits and big bonuses ahead of financial security for Main Street when they created the risky financial products that caused the financial crisis. That's why I worked with my colleagues to pass the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act in 2010. This law imposes strict new oversight of financial firms and the financial markets and created a new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to protect families and small businesses from financial abuse.

"One of the problems we face now is that banks may move commodity, energy and other financial swaps out of banks into unregulated entities. One of the goals of Dodd-Frank was to regulate these large trades in a transparent way. The Swaps Regulatory Improvement Act fixes this problem by moving swaps back into regulated financial institutions."

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