Too Big To Handle
WASHINGTON, DC In the discussion of whether Americas largest financial institutions have become too big, a sea change in opinion is underway. Two years ago, during the debate about the Dodd-Frank financial-reform legislation, few people thought that global megabanks represented a pressing problem. Some prominent senators even suggested that very large European banks represented something of a role model for the United States.
In any case, the government, according to the largest banks CEOs, could not possibly impose a cap on their assets size, because to do so would undermine the productivity and competitiveness of the US economy. Such arguments are still heard but, increasingly, only from those employed by global megabanks, including their lawyers, consultants, and docile economists.
Everyone else has shifted to the view that these financial behemoths have become too large and too complex to manage with massive adverse consequences for the wider economy. And every time the CEO of such a bank is forced to resign, the evidence mounts that these organizations have become impossible to manage in a responsible way that generates sustainable value for shareholders and keeps taxpayers out of harms way.
Wilbur Ross, a legendary investor with great experience in the financial services sector, nicely articulated the informed private-sector view on this issue. He recently told CNBC,
I think it was a fundamental error for banks to get as sophisticated as they have, and I think that the bigger problem than just size is the question of complexity. I think maybe banks have gotten too complex to manage as opposed to just too big to manage.
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http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/the-growing-consensus-against-big-banks-by-simon-johnson