**GAO-09-1049T**                      Published: Sep 29, 2009. Publicly Released: Sep 29, 2009.                  

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## Highlights

This testimony discusses issues relating to efforts to reform the regulatory structure of the financial system. In the midst of the worst economic crisis affecting financial markets globally in more than 75 years, federal officials have taken unprecedented steps to stem the unraveling of the financial services sector. While these actions aimed to provide relief in the short term, the severity of the crisis has shown clearly that in the long term, the current U.S. financial regulatory system was in need of significant reform. Our January 2009 report presented a framework for evaluating proposals to modernize the U.S. financial regulatory system, and work we have conducted since that report further underscores the urgent need for changes in the system. Given the importance of the U.S. financial sector to the domestic and international economies, in January 2009, we also added modernization of its outdated regulatory system as a new area to our list of high-risk areas of government operations because of the fragmented and outdated regulatory structure. We noted that modernizing the U.S. financial regulatory system will be a critical step to ensuring that the challenges of the 21st century can be met. This testimony discusses (1) how regulation has evolved and recent work that further illustrates the significant limitations and gaps in the existing regulatory system, (2) the experiences of countries with other types of varying regulatory structures during the financial crisis, and (3) how certain aspects of proposals would reform the U.S. regulatory system.

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## Topics

Auditing and Financial Management

AccountabilityBank examinationBank managementBanking lawBanking regulationCommodity futuresFederal regulationsFederal reserve banksFinancial institutionsFinancial management systemsFinancial markets regulationRegulatory agenciesRisk assessmentRisk factorsRisk managementSecuritiesSecurities regulationSelf-regulatory organizationsFinancial services industry