Thursday, April 22, 2010

Obama moves to close deal on financial reform

Part rebuke, part olive branch and part sales pitch, President Barack Obama's speech Thursday exhorting bankers to "join us, instead of fighting us" on financial reform appeared to have won over some on Wall Street.

The speech was the closing argument in Obama’s two-year effort to enact regulations that would better control financial risk-taking, protect consumers and develop an orderly system of shutting down banks that become “too big to fail.” Debate on a final version of the bill could come as early as next week.

"(I) am here today because I want to urge you to join us, instead of fighting us in this effort," Obama told an audience that included some of Wall Street's top executives. Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein and COO Gary Cohn were there, along with top managers from Credit Suisse, Bank of America, Barclays, Morgan Stanley and JP Morgan Chase.

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