MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Obama warns Wall Street bankers on anniversary of Lehman collapse

The US president promised “the most ambitious overhaul of the financial system since the Great Depression”.

US President Barack Obama has warned bankers against complacency, saying that some in the industry are ignoring the lessons of the financial crisis. “We will not go back to the days of reckless behaviour and unchecked excess at the heart of this crisis,” he said.

He called on Wall Street to support “the most ambitious overhaul of the financial system since the Great Depression”.

The financial system was returning to normal but had not recovered, he added.

“There are some in the financial industry who are misreading this moment,” said President Obama in a speech to mark one year since the collapse of Lehman Brothers bank.

“Instead of learning the lessons of Lehman and the crisis from which we are still recovering, they are choosing to ignore them. They do so not just at their own peril, but at our nation's.”

He told Wall Street that it could not resume taking risks without regard for consequences and said they should not expect US taxpayers to bail them out again.

The speech came as UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown said that he was “appalled” that some financial firms had been continuing or even extending their bonus culture.

In a BBC interview, Mr Brown said he was determined that world leaders meeting in Pittsburgh next week would “complete the unfinished business” of cleaning up banks - including establishing rules on bonuses.

President Obama said his administration was working on an “ambitious” overhaul of the regulatory system.

Under the proposed regulation, the White House would give the central bank, the Federal Reserve, new powers over huge financial firms and the ability to seize banks whose collapse could threaten the economy.

He also wants a new watchdog, the Consumer Financial Protection Agency, to oversee products such as mortgages, car loans and credit cards. The Federal Trade Commission would also be given new powers to protect consumers.

“It is incumbent on us to put in place those reforms that will prevent this crisis from ever happening again,” President Obama said.

The proposals have faced opposition from the banking industry and been tied up in Congress, which has been bogged down with the administration's healthcare reform proposals.

Mr Obama said that his recovery was bearing fruit and had “prevented layoffs of tens of thousands of teachers, police officers and other essential public servants”.

“Although I will never be satisfied while people are out of work and our financial system is weakened, we can be confident that the storms of the past two years are beginning to break,” he added.

He denied that his plans to force greater transparency in financial products would lead to a reduction in competition.

He said that in the past competition had been about who could hide the true costs of their products the best by offering teaser rates on credit cards and mortgages.

“By setting ground rules, we'll increase the kind of competition that actually provides people better and greater choices, as companies compete to offer the best product, not the one that's most complex or confusing,” he said. (BBC).-