Washington—Senator Evan Bayh, Chairman of the Senate Banking Subcommittee on Security and International Trade and Finance, today chaired a hearing on “International Cooperation to Modernize Financial Regulation.”

    At the hearing, Bayh questioned experts on international economic and financial affairs about current plans to reform the global financial system.  Specifically, Bayh asked whether vulnerabilities and gaps in financial markets abroad can still have a negative impact on the American economy and jobs.

    “We all know that lax regulation of Wall Street contributed to our current financial crisis,” said Bayh.  “But just as we need to change the way Wall Street does business, we also need to ensure that American capital does not migrate to international economies with weak regulation of the financial services industry.”

    Bayh added, “One year ago, our country experienced a financial crisis, fueled by home foreclosures and institutional failure.  The markets dropped drastically and credit began to freeze as banks refused to lend to families, businesses and one another.  It soon became apparent that no one was immune—our financial crisis quickly became a full-blown economic crisis, complete with a housing decline and our nation shedding an average of 700,000 jobs each month.  My home state of Indiana was hit particularly hard.

    “A year later, we are on a path to recovery.  It will take some time for our financial system to completely heal, but in the meantime it is the responsibility and duty of lawmakers to be willing to take the steps towards long term reform, to make sure this situation does not happen again.

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