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Forming Partnerships

Can federal regulators really be partners with industry? We are not naive. We know that not everyone is going to play by the rules. There will still be bad actors who will not comply. For them, we reserve every penalty and sanction that the law allows. And because regulatory time and effort is no longer being wasted on the good guys, agencies can better focus their attention on the few cheaters.

But experience shows that the vast majority do play by the rules -- if they can figure them out, that is. In dealing with that majority who want to do the right thing, partnership can achieve very good results. If we agree on the goals, allow room for innovation, and help each other all we can, that will increase compliance.

With that in mind, we called together all of the top regulators in Washington for repeated meetings to reach consensus on a new approach -- a way to make the rules make sense, a way that works better and costs less.