USA: major reform on Wall Street - President Obama's proposals to limit the size and scope of banks

President Obama yesterday announced major reforms designed to limit the size and scope of the activities performed by financial institutions and banks. The proposals will prevent banks (and financial institutions containing a bank) from investing in or sponsoring a hedge fund, private equity fund or certain proprietary trading operations on their own account. Additionally, it is proposed to set limits on the market share of liabilities of the largest financial firms. 

President Obama's speech can be viewed in the video embedded below (a transcript is available here). Further information is available in the accompanying White House press statement. 

In the UK, Lord Myners, the Financial Services Secretary, provided an initial response to President Obama's announcement. He stated that because the UK Government had taken other measures it would be unlikely to follow the USA's example. Lord Myners' response, in an interview on yesterday evening's Channel 4 news, can be seen in the video embedded below:

For further comment see: here (Financial Times), here (The Times), here (Wall Street Journal) and here (New York Times).