WASHINGTON, D.C.— Dennis Kelleher, Cofounder, President and CEO of Better Markets, released the following statement ahead of today’s meeting of the Financial Stability Oversight Council:

“The Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) is a vital front line agency key to preventing financial crashes and economic catastrophe as happened in 2008. However, this administration is gutting the FSOC and turning it into a vehicle for recklessly pursuing a deregulatory agenda that will only result in the type of bubble growth that inevitably leads to more financial crashes and needless economic harm. The FSOC was established in the wake of the catastrophic 2008 crash to protect our economy by supporting the country’s financial stability, regulating systemically significant nonbanks, reducing regulatory arbitrage, and identifying and mitigating emerging risks. Instead, the FSOC Chair, Treasury Secretary Bessent, is now ignoring these critical functions in favor of a mindless pro-Wall Street financial industry deregulatory agenda that will cause broad-based financial instability.

“His pretext for this deregulation – that financial regulation negatively impacts economic growth – is false. First, economic growth requires a properly regulated financial industry to ensure it supports the real productive economy and minimizes anti-social wealth extraction. Second, financial industry deregulation results in artificial growth of the financial sector over the economy, and growth that benefits only the wealthiest in the economy over Main Street Americans. That’s what happened with the dotcom and subprime bubbles. Put simply, deregulation results in narrow, fragile, short term bubble growth, not sustainable, durable, broad-based growth that benefits all Americans.

“Undermining the FSOC is undermining the economy and the financial system. The FSOC needs to get back to basics and fulfill its statutory mandate, or it will accelerate rather than prevent the next financial crisis and calamity.”

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Better Markets is a non-profit, non-partisan, and independent organization founded in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis to promote the public interest in the financial markets, support the financial reform of Wall Street and make our financial system work for all Americans again. Better Markets works with allies—including many in finance—to promote pro-market, pro-business and pro-growth policies that help build a stronger, safer financial system that protects and promotes Americans’ jobs, savings, retirements and more. To learn more, visit www.bettermarkets.org.