WASHINGTON (AP) — The House Financial Services Committee has voted to assess fees on Wall Street firms and other large companies to pay in advance for the costs of dismantling failing nonbank financial institutions.
The money would be paid into a $150 billion "dissolution fund" by firms with assets of more than $50 billion. Hedge funds with assets of more than $10 billion would also pay. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. would use the fund to unravel and break up collapsing firms.
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and large Wall Street firms prefer that the fee be assessed after a failed firm has been dismantled.
The prepay provision modifies a broader piece of legislation that sets up a new regulatory regime for the financial sector.
