Defending his role on the board of the failed Signature Bank, former New York Rep. Barney Frank has told Financial Times, "I need to make some money."
The man whose namesake Dodd-Frank Act piled regulations on banks in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis says he's "Chagrined" over Signature's closing, "Because obviously people will say, 'Oh, hey mister, you told everybody else how to run a bank and the bank you were helping run failed'."
Frank told the New Yorker his other reason for joining Signature Bank was because it's been "The leading user of the low-income-housing tax credit in New York," which aligns with his policy interest in affordable housing.
During his time on Capitol Hill, Frank condemned staffers who left to become financial services lobbyists - then he joined Signature's board two years after leaving Congress.
Jeff Hauser, executive director of the Revolving Door Project, rejects Frank's attempt to distinguish between being a lobbyist and a board member, telling FT:. "Ordinary people don't disdain lobbyists because of the narrow, legal definition of the term. It's sophistry beneath Frank's considerable intellect" "Anything other than lobbying within the commonly understood sense of the term."
After joining Signature's board, Frank publicly argued that Dodd-Frank's $50 billion threshold for imposing tougher regulatory measures on banks was too low.
Signature Bank won't be on the only dent in Frank's obituary: In 1989, he was the center of a scandal over his two-year relationship with a male hooker who ran a prostitution business out of Frank's DC apartment.
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/i-need-make-money-barney-frank-defends-signature-bank-board-role
No comments:
Post a Comment