Barney Frank just delivered a speech at Compliance Week’s annual conference in Washington D.C. and he seems to have confirmed what Goldman Sachs analysts told us yesterday – new legislation that forces banks to spin-off their derivatives business probably won’t make it into the final financial reform bill.

“Banks ought to be able to hedge their own risks,” Mr. Frank said. He said banks would be prohibited from overly risky derivatives activities by the Volcker Rule and that the separate provision wouldn’t be necessary.

“I don’t see the need for a separate rule regarding derivatives because the restriction on banks engaging in proprietary activities would apply to derivatives as well as everything else,” Mr. Frank said.

That’s not going to sit well with Barney’s Democratic colleague, Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas, who has been fighting tooth and nail for the new legislation. Goldman’s analysts warned yesterday that the legislation would do some serious damage to the banks if it passed, but they don’t think it will get through.

From Goldman’s Report:

…while regulatory risk is (hopefully) reaching a peak it does create the specter of an overhang for some time. In particular our Washington analyst does not expect the Lincoln proposal to make it into the final version of the bill, but should this occur it would be very negative for investment banks and potentially exchanges as volumes would suffer.

Comments (35)

  1. Posted by Riley Escobar | May 25, 2010 at 1:31 PM

    Played out picture,kid. Do better…

  2. Posted by Anonymous | May 25, 2010 at 1:32 PM
  3. Posted by Anonymous | May 25, 2010 at 1:35 PM

    @2 very fitting indeed a better pic capturing the true spirit of this character

  4. Posted by Pointing out the obvious | May 25, 2010 at 1:35 PM

    Same day we get a lindsay lohan pic – we get a Barney Frank pic. What is this, hot bitch day at dealbreaker.

  5. Posted by Anonymous | May 25, 2010 at 1:40 PM

    I could go for that joint right about now

  6. Posted by Anonymous | May 25, 2010 at 1:41 PM

    Barney Frank = Blumpkin

  7. Posted by Mr. Awesome | May 25, 2010 at 1:42 PM

    @4 I think its same sex lover day…

  8. Posted by Dennis Kneale | May 25, 2010 at 1:44 PM

    he looks so beagle in that pic

  9. Posted by Anonymous | May 25, 2010 at 1:46 PM

    Hey look at that! It’s like Goldman KNEW what Barney would say the day before his speech. What a coincidence!

  10. Posted by Anonymous | May 25, 2010 at 1:49 PM
  11. Posted by Anonymous | May 25, 2010 at 1:50 PM

    I wish I was that thing in his mouth.

    /Cody

  12. Posted by ShortStory | May 25, 2010 at 1:52 PM

    blanche lincoln is part of the load her mom should have swallowed

  13. Posted by Anonymous | May 25, 2010 at 1:56 PM

    has anyone noticed how that dumb a$$ Pelosi has been absent from the news lately? Any chance the Dems are keeping her out of the public / press as all she does is hurt the party every time she opens her pie hole

  14. Posted by Anonymous | May 25, 2010 at 1:57 PM

    Barney has never actually dealt anyone the “death blow” but he can if he has to.

  15. Posted by Anonymous | May 25, 2010 at 1:57 PM

    Barney Frank’s oral fixation goes way beyond cigars…..

  16. Posted by Doode | May 25, 2010 at 2:03 PM

    I wonder if Mandy’s today’s outfit could make Barney F to consider switching his orientation?

  17. Posted by Anonymous | May 25, 2010 at 2:04 PM

    Ellipses @15 – whatever do you mean?

  18. Posted by Anonymous | May 25, 2010 at 2:05 PM

    is a “….Death Blow….” some new sort of S&M thing that Barney performs?

  19. Posted by Anonymous | May 25, 2010 at 2:08 PM

    I have to give it to Mass. voters, they have a way with betting for a loser….Barney Frank, Ted Kennedy, John Kerry….even the left coast with Pelosi is almost as bad..

  20. Posted by Anonymous | May 25, 2010 at 2:09 PM

    Every time Barney blows, it’s deathly good.

    -Larry S.
    Diet Coke Ambassador

  21. Posted by Anonymous | May 25, 2010 at 2:20 PM

    babe ruth?

  22. Posted by close but no cigar | May 25, 2010 at 2:27 PM

    Barney Frank “deals a death blow.”

    I get what you did there.

  23. Posted by Anonymous | May 25, 2010 at 2:34 PM

    i do not understand how a man could put his schwang in that guys holes

  24. Posted by Anonymous | May 25, 2010 at 2:36 PM

    could we let the elephant out of the room here …

    He is an effing puff. Tantamount to super gay ronaldo.

  25. Posted by Perkins Maxwell | May 25, 2010 at 3:15 PM

    @24: perhaps if you’d read the comments you would have noticed that the elephant has been rampaging around the room long before you showed up.

  26. Posted by Thrashed Gulags | May 25, 2010 at 3:26 PM

    Red herring – Barney wants to back-door the derivatives legislation under the cloak of darkness.

  27. Posted by Guest | May 25, 2010 at 3:43 PM

    Why would we let anybody in Arkansas have input into financial regulation?

  28. Posted by kungfugrip | May 25, 2010 at 3:48 PM

    Blanche Lincoln, Arkansas, Barney Frank, Deliverance,squeal like a pig for me -circle closed

  29. Posted by omgg | May 25, 2010 at 3:50 PM

    Babu Batt @16: inidan ¨knowledge process outsourcer¨

  30. Posted by Crazy Eddie | May 25, 2010 at 4:13 PM

    Hey, is dat my cousin (Sam) wid a bad hairpiece? Looks like da same cigahs he smokes.

  31. Posted by Anonymous | May 25, 2010 at 6:00 PM

    @27 I think the better question is how did a democrat, or “liberal hippy commie pinko douche” in southern speak, get elected in Arkansas

  32. Posted by Doode | May 25, 2010 at 7:19 PM

    @29 What?

  33. Posted by Jmd | May 25, 2010 at 10:37 PM

    What, no parking tickets???

  34. Posted by Venerability | May 26, 2010 at 9:18 AM

    Do brokerages’ proprietary trading floors trade against their firms’ own customers? Or worse? Readers might be interested in “My Life Versus Mrs. Blankfein’s Diamond Earrings” http://wp.me/pVYiX-7

  35. Posted by Doode | May 26, 2010 at 10:07 AM

    @34 Yes, not only external clients, but also other internal desks. Dark pools and smart order routers are frequently used for that – that said the amount scammed is maybe $20 Mil out of hundreds of mils made otherwise.

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