English subtitles for clip: File:President Obama Speaks on Wall Street Reform.webm

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I just has an opportunity to
meet with our independent

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financial regulators to
discuss the progress that

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we've made on our economy
since the financial crisis.

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This is something that I've
done on a regular basis.

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It's worth remembering that
it was eight years ago this

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month that Bear
Stearns collapsed.

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And that was a key moment
in an economic spiral that

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eventually cost millions
of Americans home values,

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pensions, jobs, savings.

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It was devastating.

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And it is a useful reminder
of what happens when you

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have lax regulation on
Wall Street -- eventually,

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it migrates to Main Street.

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And so irresponsible,
risky bets with inadequate

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safeguards and that reward
executives who take those

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risks greatly can cause
enormous damage to our

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economy overall.

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As we worked to recover
from this crisis,

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we've also worked to prevent
this crisis

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from happening again.

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And Wall Street reform --
Dodd-Frank -- the laws that

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we passed have worked.

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I want to emphasize this
because it is popular in the

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media, in political
discourse -- both on the

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left and the right -- to
suggest that the crisis

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happened and
nothing changed.

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That is not true.

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Let me repeat that.

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In fact, we went at
financial regulation very

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hard to guard against
another era of "too big to

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fail" and some of the
systemic disruptions that

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occurred because
of lax regulation.

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It has helped us crack down
on irresponsible behavior.

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We have seen banks that now
have much greater capital --

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as much as $700 billion
worth of additional capital,

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additional cushion inside
of our financial system.

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We have put in place
requirements so that if you

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have a financial institution
that is on the brink of

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collapse, we can engage in
an orderly unwinding of that

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institution without having
taxpayers forced to come in

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and bail it out.

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We have made sure that the
monitoring and the reporting

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by these institutions is
much more stringent than it

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used to be.

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We are moving in the
derivatives sector a huge

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amount of oversight
and regulation.

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And now you have
clearinghouses that account

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for the vast majority of
trades taking place so that

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we know if and when somebody
is doing something that they

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shouldn't be doing, if
they're over-leveraged in

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ways that could pose larger
dangers to the financial system.

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We created a Consumer
Financial Protection Bureau

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that has been very effective
in cracking down on some of

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the dishonest predatory
practices that financial

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institutions were engaging
in and that, in part,

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led to the crisis
in 2007 and 2008.

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So I want to dispel the
notion that exists both on

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the left and on the
right that somehow,

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after the crisis,
nothing happened.

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In fact, if you look at the
speech that I gave at Cooper

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Union in 2008 addressing
this issue, we are,

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by the end of this year,
likely to have achieved all

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the goals that we set out
in terms of firming up the

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financial system and making
it much more secure and

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making sure that some of
the excesses, recklessness,

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and dangers that took place
can't occur in the future.

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The second thing that I want
to correct for the record is

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the notion that somehow this
would hurt business

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and the economy.

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In fact, the opposite
has happened.

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Our businesses have created
jobs every single month

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since this law was signed.

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Over the past six years, it
created more than 15 14*

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million new jobs in all.

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And because of
Wall Street reform,

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our financial system is
safer and stronger than it

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was before the crisis.

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It is much better equipped
to withstand any systemic

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blows that may occur not
just within our borders,

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but in the international
financial system generally.

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So we did not
just rebuild this,

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we rebuilt it better and
we rebuilt it stronger.

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Now, that doesn't mean that
there's not still work to do.

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One of the things that we
discussed was the fact that

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there is a shadow banking
system -- a set of

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institutions that under
current law aren't always

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regulated in the same way
that banks are regulated --

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hedge funds, asset
managers, et cetera.

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And one of our projects is
to make sure that we are

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covering some of
those potential gaps.

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We may need at some point
help from Congress to do that.

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But in the meantime, the
joint committee of these

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agencies has been working
very effectively to try to

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monitor some of those
areas that are outside the

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traditional banking system.

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We still have work to do to
complete regulations related

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to executive compensation to
make sure that individuals

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who are working in these
financial institutions are

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less incentivized
to take big,

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reckless risks that could
end up harming our financial

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sector overall.

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And we also spent a lot
of time talking about

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cybersecurity, an area
where there's going to be

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increasing vulnerability.

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And as part of my
Cybersecurity National

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Action Plan, we have already
seen these independent

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regulators working together
with Treasury and with the

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Department of Homeland
Security and other agencies

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to start tightening up our
financial sector and to

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identify those areas where
we might be weak and might

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be vulnerable.

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So there's going to continue
to be a lot of work to do.

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The financial system
operates very quickly.

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It is innovative.

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There is a lot of
technology involved.

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And so the task for
regulators is challenging

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because it's a
moving target;

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it doesn't stay static.

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But these institutions
have worked really hard,

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and overall, undoubtedly
have made our financial

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system much better.

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So when you read articles,
whether on the left or the

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right, that suggest somehow
nothing happened and

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everybody just went back to
the same go-go years that

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they were engaging
in before,

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those are factually
incorrect.

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They're not true.

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And the reason I want to
emphasize that is because

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when there's a perception
that nothing happened,

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that that feeds cynicism
that actually weakens our

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ability then to make further
progress in regulating

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this sector.

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A lot of work has been done
by a lot of really smart,

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dedicated people to try
to make this system work better.

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And we've made
vast improvements,

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and we now have
to build on that.

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The last point I would make
-- if there is a significant

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challenge in terms of
regulating Wall Street and

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regulating our
financial sector,

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it is primarily coming from
certain members of Congress

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who are consistently
pressuring independent

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regulators to back off;
who want to strip away the

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authorities that were
granted under Dodd-Frank;

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who tried to weaken
those regulations,

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tried to water them down;
or tried to starve these

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regulators of the resources
and the budgets that they

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need to hire enough
personnel to track

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everything that's taking
place in the financial sector.

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So whether you are a
Democrat or a Republican or

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a Tea Party member
or a socialist,

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if you are concerned about
making sure that Wall Street

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is doing the right thing,
check to make sure that your

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member of Congress is not
trying to cut the budgets of

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these various agencies,
starve them of the resources

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that they need, or roll back
some of the authorities that

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were created
during Dodd-Frank.

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That should be the target of
your concern and your wrath.

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Because unless
we have strong,

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independent agencies like
this that can provide the

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oversight that's necessary,
it is absolutely true that

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these financial institutions
with enormous resources and

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mountains of lawyers and
accountants and analysts

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will run circles around the
government and will end up

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engaging once again in the
kinds of disruptive behavior

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that caused so much damage
to so many people

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in the first place.

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So that's where everybody
should be focused.

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And let's make sure that as
you reporters are doing your

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work in this area, shine
a spotlight on who is it

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that's trying to weaken
Wall Street reform and

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regulations and who's
trying to strengthen them;

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who's trying to strip out
budgets and who's trying to

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add additional resources to
make sure that we're doing

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the job.

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And the American people
should take some comfort

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from the fact that the
people around this table,

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at least, have been
working really hard,

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and they've actually made
some really

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significant progress.

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We got more work to do.

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And there are a whole set of
issues that fall outside the

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issues of this regulatory
body in terms of making sure

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that folks on Wall Street
are also paying their taxes

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and that the tax
structure is fair.

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And that gets into a whole
other set of arguments that

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I may make at
another press event.

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All right?

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Thank you very
much, everybody.

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The Press: Any comments for
the camera on Nancy Reagan?

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The President: I had
the opportunity

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to meet Mrs. Reagan once.

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Obviously, she was
already advanced in age,

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but could not have been more
gracious and more charming

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to myself and Michelle when
we first came into office.

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I think it's been well
documented the extraordinary

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love that she had for
her husband and the

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extraordinary comfort and
strength that she provided

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him during really
hard times.

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As somebody who has been
lucky enough to have an

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extraordinary partner
in my life as well,

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I know how much she meant
not just to President Reagan

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but to the country
as a whole.

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He was lucky to have her --
and I'm sure he'd be the

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first to acknowledge that.

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So she will be missed.