My letter to the Financial Times, London re: Do bank regulations actually work?

Re: Banks face pushback over surging compliance and regulatory costs

Re: ECB warns of risks posed by shadow banking sector

Dear Sirs:

Nowhere in your excellent article about shareholder concern over whether banks are spending their regulatory compliance money wisely is there any discussion over whether such regulations actually work. Banking regulators and their supporters would have us believe that the banks themselves are inherently unstable businesses likely to destroy themselves, their customers, and their stockholders unless properly regulated by those of superior insight. The promise from such financial critics is that more regulations more vigorously enforced by more examiners will prevent bank losses. This is a fantasy. Systemic financial panics are caused by central bank expansion of the money supply that drives interest rates below their natural level, encouraging unsustainable debt that must eventually be liquidated en mass. The unregulated so-called "shadow banking" sector, so decried by ECB president Mario Draghi, is funded by investors who are willing to bear their own losses. Any investment bubble that threatens this industry is caused by Mr. Draghi himself.

Patrick Barron