Monday, January 18, 2016

Where do fines levied on the big banks go?

In honor of the bank-bashing Dem debate (I didn't watch it but I can imagine the content). And why is O'Malley still in the race (even though he doesn't seem to be a half-bad politician)?

http://www.democracynow.org/2016/1/15/headlines/goldman_sachs_reaches_5_billion_settlement_over_financial_crisis

http://www.alternet.org/economy/bank-fines-and-crime
  • To be clear, these penalties are barely felt by the banks, but it's better than nothing
    • Goldman settled for $5B recently (on top of the $550MM they previous paid for related financial crisis fraud)
      • Their Q3 2015 sales were $6.9B and net income $1.4B (quite the profit margin!)
      • And banks are often able to pass along the penalties to their customers, which seems messed up to me (the laws should require that the $ comes out of dividends and/or exec/board comp - to incentivize better corp. governance)
    • But unlike the S&L scandal of the '80s (1K convictions) and how some European nations handled the 2008 financial crisis, no one from the major US banks will go to jail
      • So the deterrence effect is minor, as limitations in the evidence/laws make it hard to build a case for individual willful conspiracy to defraud
  • Some of the money goes to victims/customers/investors depending on the nature of the charges, but it's rare
  • And the rest goes to various gov't agencies: SEC, CFPB, Fed, etc., and they generally route the proceeds to their general funds or the Treasury
    • The intention is to use that money to fund future investigations
      • But if that is true, shouldn't the # of investigations and settlements go up over time?
        • I'm not sure if that has been the case since 2008
      • To me, it seems like a waste for the $ to go to Treasury, since it's a drop in the bucket vs. our debt/deficit
        • And as agencies are under more funding pressure (and at the mercy of a GOP Congress), at least the $ could help them continue to execute their missions

No comments: