The New Sherriff of Wall Street

I presume that in the minds of public relations conscious government officials, appointing a guy by the name of Lawsky to watch over Wall Street is about as good as it can get. The 41-year-old former federal prosecutor promises to become a household name from the Front Office to the Back. Since NYS merged banking and insurance regulation in an unprecedented move back in March, Lawsky is the first Street Tsar and I have to say I will be watching his moves with great curiosity.

Now, keep in mind the guy was a prosecutor under Mario Cuomo. This, I am sure, is making many a neck hair stand up. With the whining hipster jerk offs blocking the Brooklyn Bridge and the markets tanking again, this is not a good time for a new law man to wave his badge around. Then again, as much as I hate government intrusion into markets, an honest cop is a good cop. The question of whether Lawsky is that man will be answered soon enough. Regardless of how he does his job, expect to hear a lot of bark regardless of what bite may or may not come.

Mr. Lawsky, who is paid $127,000 a year, won't say what the criminal-enforcement unit will investigate first, though he is eager to join forces with state and federal prosecutors to bring cases. That seldom happened before New York lawmakers combined the state's banking and insurance regulators in March to create the new agency.

New York's Department of Financial Services will instantly become one of the highest-profile financial regulators in the nation. The 1,700-person agency will oversee 3,900 banks, insurers, mortgage brokers, loan servicers and New York-based outposts of foreign banks. Those companies have about $5.7 trillion in combined assets.

Being that this position will definitely bring a high profile, don't be shocked to see Lawsky using it as a spring board to a big political career. As I have told more than one of you guys in the recent past, a career in financial regulation is becoming far and far more potentially lucrative then any of us ever thought. $127K may seem like circus peanuts, but I can definitely see Lawsky stomping around and making noise like an elephant very, very soon.

It will be interesting to see what happens and by the way, does anybody else think this dude looks too much like Barry Pepper in the 25th Hour? Or is it my own optical delusion?