The Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission headed by Phil Angelides will hold its first substantive hearing next week and Commissioner Keith Hennessey has asked for suggestions on what questions to put to the four Wall Street CEOswho are scheduled to appear:
- Lloyd Blankfein of Goldman Sachs;
- Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase;
- John Mack of Morgan Stanley; and
- Brian Moynihan of Bank of America.
Hennessey, former senior White House economic adviser to President George W. Bush, encourages anyone to send suggested questions via email or comment on his blog. It is a great opportunity to crowd-source the hearing and allow Main Street to present their concerns directly to the Wall Street. This selection from the invitation letter sets the framework of the hearing:
The FCIC is interested in learning what caused financial problems experienced by your company, including losses incurred, and what changes have been implemented as a result. Therefore, your testimony should address the following topics:
- What were the primary errors and business practices that caused the financial problems at your company and what actions have been taken to address them;
- What were your company’s business models and major sources of income (or loss), what changes have been made, what were the reasons for the changes, and what are your company’s current business models and sources of profit;
- What types of lending activities did your company pursue that caused the financial problems, including the amount, Iypes and terms of loans being made, what changes have been made, what were the reasons for the changes, and what are your company’s current lending practices;
- What were the risk management policies and practices at your company, including the types of investments being made, underwriting and approval of investments including reliance on third parties for due diligence, monitoring of investments by management, the board of directors, committees of the board of directors, and any other persons or entities, and the accounting and public reporting of the company’s investments. What changes have been made to your company’s risk management policies and practices, what were the reasons for the changes, and what are your company’s current risk management policies and practices. In addition, what were your company’s risk exposure, what changes have been made to your company’s risk exposure, what were the reasons for the changes and what are your company’s current risk exposure;
- What were the executive compensation plans and practices at your company and how did they contribute to the problems. What changes have been made to your company’s executive compensation plans and practices, what are the current executive compensation plans and practices, and what were the reasons for the changes.
Nell Minow - Editor
