“Plain Vanilla” proved to be too rich for Congress’ taste. President Barack Obama’s desire to force banks to offer consumers “plain vanilla” financial products, in particular 30-year fixed-rate mortgages, is quickly melting on Capitol Hill, where one longtime liberal House member wants to focus the debate on adopting a Consumer Financial Protection Agency (CFPA). But this new agency, much to the delight of large banks, may lack a tough mandate to go after banks, based on what House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-MA) reportedly told his Democratic colleagues about the CFPA bill. He wrote in a memo “…that CFPA will not disrupt merchants, retailers and other nonfinancial businesses or subject banks and other depository institutions to needless additional regulatory burdens and costs.”
                                                                                                                                                         -Noel Brinkerhoff

“Vanilla” Banking Mandate Falls Flat (by Sean Lengell, Washington Times)