In farewell speech, Fed's Tarullo offers fixes on bank regulation

New York

MUCH to the relief of Wall Street executives, who feared and hated him in equal measure, Daniel Tarullo left his powerful perch on the Federal Reserve Board of Governors last week, but not before delivering one last lecture on how big banks should be regulated in his absence.

His swan song was pretty surprising, all things considered. It also went largely unnoticed, much like Mr Tarullo himself during his eight years at the Federal Reserve. Many people have never heard of him, even though his decisions affected their lives in ways big and small.

Once described as the "Wizard of Oz" for the power he wielded behind the scenes, Mr Tarullo was appointed to the Federal Reserve by then president Barack Obama in January 2009. At the Fed, Mr Tarullo took over the important responsibility of regulating the big Wall Street banks, a job that, understandably, had been the purview …