Message from the Director
A year before the implosion of Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers, the Morin Center published a major study (view pdf) calling for investment banks to be examined and regulated in the same way as commercial banks. At the time of our study, other reports, including those coming out of the Treasury Department, Harvard, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the offices of Senator Schumer and Mayor Bloomberg, were claiming that the financial services industry in the U.S. was over regulated and that rules had to be loosened up to make our institutions more competitive globally. We didn’t buy it. In the fall of 2008, when the Bush Administration shifted its TARP plan from buying toxic assets to injecting capital in banks, we pointed out that board seats ought to accompany the Treasury’s acquisition of major stock positions in the country’s largest financial firms. And, as Paulson & Co. tossed about for a coherent “too big to fail policy,” expending hundreds of billions of dollars in the process, we pointed the way for a coherent approach to the vexing issue of systemic risk. At the Morin Center, we don’t mind being out of step. Sometimes that means being ahead of the pack. For 25 years, the Center has been noted primarily as the only destination for earning a master of laws degree (LL.M.) in banking and financial law. Our 1,500 graduates span the globe and hold influential positions in government, law firms, NGOs and financial institutions of all types. Established in 1978, the Morin Center for Banking Law was intended to be a thought and research leader on pressing issues relevant to the banking industry. In 1982, the first issue of the Annual Review of Banking Law (now the Review of Banking and Financial Law) was published. Although the graduate program came to dominate the Center’s activities, the current financial crisis has returned the Center to its original mission, which we see as three-fold: education, research and publication, and outreach. Here are just a few examples of how we are fulfilling that mission: • On April 23, 2009, the Center, along with the Group of Thirty and the Bretton Woods Committee sponsored a Washington, D.C. symposium called “Shaping Global Financial Reform” to address the architectural reforms that await the nation’s and the world’s financial system. The symposium included such thought leaders as Paul Volcker, Sheila Bair, Sir Anthony Crockett, John Dugan and many others. President Brown welcomed a distinguished audience to this timely event; these proceedings may be seen in the spring issue of the Review of Banking and Financial Law. • Since January 2009, every other week we have been conducting noontime seminars in Downtown Boston to educate the bar and the business community about the rapid fire events surrounding the crisis. Co-sponsored with the Boston Bar Association, these programs, called The Buck Starts Here, have three components: first, an update on Washington developments; second, a drill-down on an important issue of the day, such as TARP or securitizations; and, third, a presentation by a CEO about how his or her company is coping with the new economic realities. These programs have been well attended and well received and can be seen on the Morin Center’s Web site. • The Center’s Director serves as the rapporteur to the American Bar Association’s Task Force on Financial Markets Regulatory Reform. This responsibility places the Center in the midst of the ongoing debate over the shape of the financial services industry to come. Our associate director Martin Lacdao serves on a task force of the ABA’s Banking Law Committee also dealing with regulatory reform issues. • Marshall N. Carter, chairman of NYSE Group and past CEO of State Street Corporation recently delivered an address as part of the Edward Lane-Reticker Speaker Series. Last year’s speaker was Congressman Barney Frank. Congressman Michael Capuano recently addressed the annual banquet of the Review of Banking and Financial Law. • Our graduates and students are every bit a part of the solution. Assisted by Center subsidies, our top graduates have the opportunity to become Morin Center Development Fellows and work in developing countries to improve their financial infrastructures. Our current students serve as volunteers helping homeowners in the Boston area avoid foreclosure. In this regard, a Center graduate, Carolina Trujillo (’01), was recently honored with the Young Lawyer's Chair at the Silver Shingle Awards Dinner for her work as homeownership programs director for the Neighborhood of Affordable Housing. Carolina is the first LL.M. graduate ever to earn this coveted distinction. • Joining us at the Center in the fall of 2008 as a Senior Fellow was Robert Bench. Some of you in the Boston area may have heard Bob’s interviews on WBZ radio. Others have read his commentary on breaking banking issues in the national news media. Bob brings to us a career in financial services which commenced when he signed on as a national bank examiner right after his graduation from BU in 1965. At the OCC, he rose to be deputy comptroller before leaving to head up the global bank regulatory practice of PricewaterhouseCoopers in Washington, D.C. Bob helps us dimension the Center and adds a valuable perspective as we carry out part of our mission to help explain the ongoing crisis to various constituencies. Whether you are a student, an alumnus or a Friend of the Morin Center, you can take pride that Boston University is making significant contributions in explaining and resolving the current financial crisis. Come to some of our programs (either in person or by visiting our Web site, and see for yourself. You’ll be educated and informed. I invite you to be part of what we are doing here. Of course, we welcome your comments and suggestions. If this crisis has taught us anything it is that we all have a stake in its outcome. Please pitch in with us! With every good wish,
Cornelius Hurley |
Dear Friend,