Darrell Issa Previews MADOFF Transparency Act at Financial Regulation Summit

WASHINGTON, March 24, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- During the opening session of the Data Transparency Coalition's Financial Regulation Summit, Rep. Darrell Issa announced that he will introduce the Making All Data Open for Financial Transparency Act, or MADOFF Transparency Act, in Congress. The bill will mark the first time that data standards for financial regulators have been enshrined in law.

The bill specifically affects the Treasury Department, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and the other seven member agencies of the Financial Stability Oversight Council: the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation; the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency; the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau; the Federal Reserve; the Commodity Futures Trading Commission; the National Credit Union Administration; and the the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

The MADOFF Transparency Act requires the Treasury Department to promulgate data standards for the whole financial regulatory sector, while directing each agency to transform its regulatory reporting regime from disconnected documents into standardized, searchable data. The bill further provides that any information required by other laws to be public must be published as open data. The bill also includes specific directives for the SEC to improve that agency's existing data reporting regime.

"The MADOFF Transparency Act is a milestone in the push for data transparency in financial regulation. What last year's DATA Act is doing for federal spending, the MADOFF Transparency Act will do for financial regulation," said Hudson Hollister, Executive Director of the Data Transparency Coalition. "When the MADOFF Act becomes law, we will all see the benefits of accountability, efficiency and transparency for investors and regulated companies – while giving regulators better tools to find, and prevent, instances of fraud like Bernie Madoff's."

"Congressman Issa has been instrumental in the push for data transparency in the federal government. The Data Transparency Coalition will do everything we can in supporting his push for greater transparency in financial regulation," concluded Mr. Hollister.

A full summary of the MADOFF Transparency Act, released this morning by Rep. Issa's office, is available here.

About the Data Transparency Coalition 
The Data Transparency Coalition is the only trade association pursuing the publication of government information as standardized, machine-readable data. Through advocacy, education, and collaboration, the Coalition supports policy reforms that require consistent data standardization and publication. Data transparency enhances accountability, improves government management, reduces compliance costs, and stimulates innovation. Representing a cross-section of the technology industry, the Data Transparency Coalition membership includes market leaders such as Teradata Corporation, Workiva, RR Donnelley, Booz Allen Hamilton, and CGI Federal and growing start-ups such as Enigma.io, and Level One Technologies. For more information, visit http://datacoalition.org/. 

SOURCE Data Transparency Coalition

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