Striving for Balance: An Exploration of Regulatory Effectiveness in Financial Services Regulation, 1989 to 2008

Financial services regulators are tasked with balancing the conflicting roles of empowering and policing their regulated communities. In order to be effective, agencies must be able to accomplish both tasks. This analysis examines several determinants of effectiveness among U.S. bank regulators. Using statistical and narrative analyses, it examines factors that have contributed to the regulatory effectiveness of the National Credit Union Administration, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and Office of Thrift Supervision. The study focused on the relationships between regulatory ability to prevent failures and influences including agency longevity, ability to manage complexity, appointee and staff qualities, mission stability, regulatory style, and resources. Agency longevity and resources had the greatest impact on effectiveness among the cases that were examined. Additionally, this study proposes a typology that suggests that more effective regulators are able to balance information from their regulated communities with a public interest orientation. This allows them to have current information regarding emerging regulatory issues but also to avoid becoming too reliant on their supervised institutions for information.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph. D.

Level thesis:degree_level

doctoral

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Public Administration and Public Affairs

Department dc:contributor.department

Public Administration and Public Affairs

Grantor dc:publisher

Virginia Tech

Year dc:date.issued

2012

Author dc:creator

• Potter, Michael Ross

Chair dc:contributor.committeechair

• Hult, Karen M.

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Khademian, Anne M.
• Wolf, James F.
• Roberts, Patrick S.

• Agency Longevity
• Managing Complexity
• Front-line Staff
• Mission Stability
• Regulatory Style
• Resources
• Regulatory Effectiveness
• Regulatory Resiliency

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Dc Identifier Other

etd-06042012-091411

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/27950