White House economic adviser Lawrence Summers argued yesterday that the US financial industry has little standing to resist stricter regulation after a series of crises that culminated in a massive taxpayer-funded bailout.

“There is no financial institution that exists today that is not the direct or indirect beneficiary of trillions of dollars of taxpayer support for the financial system,” Mr Summers, director of the National Economic Council, said in a New York speech.

“This has direct relevance on the changing nature of the social compact between the financial sector and the broader economy.”

– (Bloomberg)