Eugene Grygo, chief content officer, FTF News
Suddenly, we’re moving toward the Spring holidays for many religions (and Spring breaks for many schools). While these are times for fun and adventure with loved ones, they are also opportunities for reflection.
As for the securities industry, there are many good reasons to be anxious. Firms and Ops staffs are facing the next wave of volatility, potential tariffs, new regulation, audits, competitive pressures, ongoing efforts to cut costs, and a disruptive technology or two that could eliminate Ops positions and end careers in management. The number of stressors is almost infinite.
But there are also quiet reasons to be thankful and to celebrate.
About 10 years ago, global markets were just beginning to realize how they had greased the brakes on a crazy ride into the Great Recession via rotten, repackaged mortgage-backed, overly structured instruments.
Few on Wall Street had any idea of how we were sliding into one of the most damaging recessions of our lifetimes.
My hope is that we have learned many lessons since the Great Recession. We have set in place protections that we hope will prevent or mitigate a future major economic downturn. Even so, the enforcement arms of the major U.S. regulators are very busy (and most likely understaffed) because securities firms large and small are overpowered by greed, incompetence and negligence (or combinations thereof).
But the upside is that we have regulators that have been revived and remain committed to stopping crooks as soon as they can.
In fact, both the CFTC and SEC have been showing signs of being more proactive. They are staying on top of the bitcoin/digital currency craze that is advancing at a lightning, almost overwhelming pace. There has been a mix of strong enforcement actions and an exploration of potentially protective policies that will help the industry with this truly 21st century problem.
The regulators are putting forth a multi-layered response even though Congress has resisted giving them the budgets and staffing they need. It may be the case that the regulators and other arms of the U.S. government may need to formulate a comprehensive response to stateless, decentralized digital currencies and related transactions that are emerging by the minute.
Even so, it’s clear that protections are in place and that they will be tested in our lifetimes.
So, as we prepare for the Spring holidays, we cannot possibly know if there’s another Great Recession (or something worse) on its way.
Instead, we can take a little bit of comfort in the fact that the regulatory infrastructure guiding U.S. financial markets has endured the wrenching Great Recession, and has been made stronger by such a harrowing experience.
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