Financial Stability Oversight Council Considers Regulating Asset Managers Such As BlackRock

From the Washington Examiner:

Financial officials promise update on possible asset manager regulation

Top financial regulators plan to let the public in on their plans for regulating the asset management industry sometime this spring, the regulators said Monday.

The Financial Stability Oversight Council, the super-group of regulators empowered under President Obama's banking reform law to seek out and supervise firms or activities that could threaten the financial system, said after a telephone meeting Monday that it "expects to provide a public update on its analysis this spring."

The notice means that companies such as BlackRock and Vanguard could soon know whether their industry will be slated for new rules, and if so, what kind of rules might apply.

In a statement, the council also said that it specifically looked into "potential financial stability risks" that might be involved in asset managers lacking liquidity, which is the ability to quickly gain access to cash to pay out clients or creditors, or in borrowing more than they can repay.

The council has been examining the risks that asset managers could pose to the financial system and economy since 2014. Late that year, it put out a request for information about the industry's efforts....MORE