Treasury looking to staff up new financial research office

{mosads}The OFR, created by the financial reform law and housed in
the Treasury, is intended to improve the quality of financial data the
government can provide to policymakers — in particular the new
Financial Stability Oversight Council, also a Dodd-Frank creation aimed
at preventing another broad financial crisis. 

The office also will
allow the government to better analyze what is happening in the
financial system and will lead a push to standardize financial reporting
both domestically and on a global scale.

And while the financial industry might be working to delay or otherwise deter some of the impacts of the financial reform package, Berner said the government and industry are both on board with the new office.

“We have tremendous buy-in from the industry,” Berner said. “In fact, I think they are somewhat impatient that we are not going faster.”

That stands in stark contrast to a warning Geithner offered Wednesday. Testifying before the House Small Business Committee, he warned lawmakers that Wall Street firms were spending “a huge amount of money to erode, weaken, walk back” most of the new regulations authorized by Dodd-Frank.