Regulatory structure to be reviewed

The Treasury Department on Wednesday announced a formal review of how the U.S. regulates financial markets amid concerns over competition from overseas trading capitals.

Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. and Treasury Undersecretary Robert Steel, veterans of Goldman Sachs Group Inc., have said their goal is to “frame the debate” so that their successors can make changes. Steel has said what he calls a patchwork of regulators create problems for U.S. markets.

For example, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission share oversight of capital markets, there are five federal bank regulators and state agencies oversee the insurance industry and some banks.

Any substantive changes to the regulatory structure would have to be approved by Congress, where Republicans lost the majority in last year’s election.

“The chances of anything happening in this administration is somewhere between remote and nonexistent,” said Barbara Roper, investment program director at the Consumer Federation of America.

Steel said the review would address the safety and soundness of the financial system as well as investor protection.