DAVOS, Switzerland — Regulators from the world’s major developed countries told bankers far and wide in Davos on Saturday that greater regulation is on the way, a defensive move aimed at avoiding a repeat of last year’s financial meltdown that dragged most of the world into recession.
U.S. Rep. Barney Frank said a bank tax and other tough new measures would be introduced by the individual countries but in a coordinated way to prevent bankers from moving from one place to another to escape regulation.
“Lenin might have been able to put socialism in one country, but tough bank regulation in one country ain’t going to happen because we will lose people,” said Frank, a Massachusetts Democrat who heads the U.S. House Financial Services Committee, a key spot for any American decisions.
The measures have been criticized by banks and hedge funds, fearful that more and more regulation could have the unintended effect of halting what most agree is a nascent economic recovery.
Government regulators, finance ministers and central bankers from the U.S. and Europe laid out their financial reform plans during a two-hour meeting Saturday with bank executives at the World Economic Forum.
It came after days of tension at the Swiss Alpine resort over government plans for stricter controls on the financial industry to limit speculation and avoid a repeat of 2008.
Few details of what was discussed were made public.
