[ université - Financial Protection Agency to protect future borrowers ]
NB: This piece was part of a Journalism assignment at University in which we had to take a press release and turn it into a hard news story.
President Barrack Obama’s administration is set to implement new reforms which will protect consumers and help prevent America from experiencing a recession at such a devastating level again.
“I’ve called on Congress to put in place a series of tough, common-sense rules of the road that will protect consumers from abuse, let markets function fairly and help prevent a crisis like this from ever happening again,” Obama has said during his weekly address.
A new nation-wide operation will come into effect if these reforms are enacted. The Consumer Financial Protection Agency will be set-up to address unstable mortgage loans, as this was the key area which led to the Wall Street crash. “[There need to be] clear rules, clearly enforced. And that’s what this agency will do,” Obama states. This new agency sets to de-mystify lending contracts, which often confuse borrowers, as well as frequently mislead them into paying hidden fees.
Financial institutions are said to not be opposed to such reforms as this will make them more accountable for their actions, and if the strict guidelines are not enforced, the lenders will be financially penalised.
The G20 Summit will also descend upon Pittsburgh this week with the second G20 meeting being held this year. The last summit was in April, when the world was at the height of the Financial Crisis. Obama says that this meeting is planned to be a “5-month check-up to review the steps each nation has taken.” The key topic of the summit will be to discuss steps to safeguard the global financial system and ensure gaps in regulation are minimised globally.
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