Susan Schmidt Bies: Enterprise perspectives in financial institution supervision (Central Bank Articles and Speeches)

Thank you for inviting me to speak at your conference honoring Phillip I. Blumberg. I certainly wish to join you in congratulating him on publication of the new edition of The Law of Corporate Groups. Dean Blumberg speaks of the inadequacy of the traditional concept of separate corporate juridical personality when applied to the modern reality of large multinational corporations that have holding companies and subsidiaries around the globe. He makes the case that the promotion of corporate accountability requires an enterprise-wide view of the multinational firm. The concept of an enterprisewide view of business organizations resonates with me as a Federal Reserve Governor who has particular responsibility for banking regulation and supervision. I would posit that moving from an entity or functional view to an enterprise-wide view of the consolidated entity improves the parent organization’s accountability for the activities of its constituent subsidiaries and divisions around the world.