The FinReg Pod

Dan Berkovitz and Laurian Cristea discuss the regulatory and ethical challenges surrounding political event contracts. They explore the history, recent legal developments, and the future implications of betting on political outcomes, especially as the CFTC tightens its stance on these controversial markets. Lee’s X: @leereiners Related Links: CFTC proposed amendments to its r

Ed DeMarco is president of the Housing Policy Council and former acting director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency. He discusses the rise of nonbank mortgage companies and what the Financial Stability Oversight Council’s recent report on nonbank mortgage servicing gets right and what it gets wrong. Ed also offers his thoughts on the FHFA’s Title Insurance Waiver Pilot Progr

Graham Steele is the former Assistant Secretary for Financial Institutions at the U.S. Department of the Treasury. He discusses insights from his latest paper for the Roosevelt Institute, "The End of Banking History? Finishing the Unfinished Business of Financial Reform." From the impact of the 2018 deregulatory “tailoring” project, which weakened post-crisis reforms, to the c

Kathryn Judge is a professor at Columbia Law School and Aaron Klein is a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution. They discuss the origins of the Federal Home Loan Banks, the role they played in propping up failing banks in the 2023 regional banking crisis, and their ideas for how the FHLBs can be reformed to better fulfill their public mission to promote housing and community

John Coates is the John F. Cogan, Jr. Professor of Law and Economics at Harvard Law School and author of “The Problem of Twelve: When a Few Financial Institutions Control Everything.” According to John, a problem of twelve arises when a small number of institutions acquire the means to exert outsized influence over the politics and economy of a nation. In this episode, John di

Art Wilmarth, Professor Emeritus of Law at the George Washington University Law School, reflects on the regional banking crisis of spring 2023 and how decisions made by regulators to resolve Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank, First Republic Bank, and Credit Suisse reveal that we have still not solved the Too Big to Fail problem. Lee’s X: @leereiners Lee’s Website: www.leer

Eric Spitler, former Director of the Office of Legislative Affairs at the FDIC, discusses his paper on the history of bank runs and how he would reform deposit insurance to address the weaknesses revealed by last spring’s regional banking crisis. Lee’s X: @leereiners Related Links: Yelling 'Fire' in the Financial Theater: Bank Runs in the Social Media Age and the Threat to Fina

Danny Cullenward is a distinguished Senior Fellow with the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy at the University of Pennsylvania. He joined Lee to discuss the current state of voluntary carbon credit markets and efforts in the U.S. and abroad to regulate carbon credits. Lee’s X: @leereiners Related Links: Danny’s website: https://www.ghgpolicy.org/ Webinar: What Role Will Carbon

Sean Vanatta is a lecturer in US Economic and Social History at the University of Glasgow and author of the new book "Plastic Capitalism: Banks, Credit Cards, and the End of Financial Control." Sean sits down with Lee to discuss the history of credit cards in the United States and how this history informs current policy debates, including Capital One’s proposed acquisition of Di

Jonah Crane, a partner at Klaros Group and former Treasury Department official, breaks down the recent collapse of fintech company Synapse, which has left thousands of customers without access to their funds. Crane also reflects on the regulatory response and the broader impact Synapse’s failure will have on Banking as a Service. Lee’s X: @leereiners Jonah’s X: @JonahCrane Re