FROM THE OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS

The Treasury Department released today a study which broadly examines the strengths and weaknesses of the financial service system. Congressionally mandated in 1994 by the Riegle-Neal Interstate Banking and Branching Efficiency Act, the report was prepared by Robert E. Litan, the Director of the Economic Studies Program at the Brookings Institution, and Jonathan Rauch, an author and journalist who has written on a wide variety of public policy issues.

Under Riegle-Neal, the Secretary of the Treasury is also required to submit to Congress recommendations for legislative changes to improve the operations of the financial service system. In June of this year the Treasury Department delivered to Congress a draft proposal intended to make the system more effective in serving the needs of consumers by eliminating outmoded barriers to competition. Treasury’s proposal addresses many, but not all, of the issues raised in this study, and the department hopes the study will serve as a basis for further policy discussion and debate.