The financial regulators have taken so many actions so quickly, often simultaneously, in response to the economic and financial impacts of the coronavirus crisis that it is hard to keep up.  That’s why Better Markets has created the Tracker of Regulatory Agencies Coronavirus Emergency Responses (TRACER    ).  In furthering Better Markets’ goals of transparency, oversight and accountability, the TRACER  is intended to catalogue every coronavirus-related action taken by the financial regulatory agencies:

 

• Federal Reserve Board (Fed or FRB),

• Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC),

• Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC),

• Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC),

• Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC),

• Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB),

• Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC),

• Treasury Department (Treasury), and

• Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC).

 

Some of the actions taken are ministerial, some are technical, some have loosened and/or weakened rules, and some have suspended important regulatory safeguards.  Regardless of purpose, intent or consequences, the TRACER will track them so that all of those actions are known, all of the stated reasons are disclosed and all of the end-dates, if any, are clear.  The goals are to monitor what the financial regulatory agencies are doing, determine if the stated purpose of the actions is achieved, and police the termination of the actions when the coronavirus crisis is over.  We also aspire to include additional explanatory information as well as an evaluation of the actions if time and resources permit.

 

The TRACER is divided into four categories: Banking, Securities, Derivatives, and Consumer Protection. For each regulatory action, the tracker gives the date, a brief summary of the action, a link to the action, the expiration date, if any, among other things.  In addition, there is a red star next to those actions considered to be most consequential.

 

Updating the TRACER – Your Help is Needed

​

We aspire for the TRACER  to be complete and accurate, but with everything going on, it is inevitable that there will be errors, omissions, inaccuracies and incompleteness.  That’s why we’re asking for your help:  if you see anything that should be added, fixed or otherwise changed, please email us at tracer@bettermarkets.com.  We will carefully review every email and take action as appropriate as quickly as possible.  Thank you for helping us to track what the financial regulatory agencies are doing.