Wall Street Spent $350,000 Lobbying EM Debt Restructuring Bills

Wall Street spent more than $350,000 to lobby New York lawmakers on bills that aimed to overhaul the process for restructuring sovereign debt, according to a Bloomberg calculation of lobbyist filings.

(Bloomberg) — Wall Street spent more than $350,000 to lobby New York lawmakers on bills that aimed to overhaul the process for restructuring sovereign debt, according to a Bloomberg calculation of lobbyist filings.

Nearly a dozen financial groups and investment banks, including Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co., hired representatives during the legislative session in Albany that ended in June, according to the filings, which were posted on a state website by Monday’s deadline.

The filings don’t state what position the firms took on the legislation. But Wall Street money managers had argued that the proposals threatened to raise borrowing costs for poor countries without addressing underlying problems.

The bills, which would have capped how much private creditors could receive after a country defaults on its debt, failed to get a vote in the session. New York law governs about half of emerging-market bonds — around $800 billion of outstanding debt.

Efforts to simplify the debt-restructuring process have taken on added urgency with sovereign defaults at a record in the developing world and negotiations between governments and creditors stalling.

In addition to JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Wells Fargo & Co. and HSBC, as well as organizations like the New York Bankers Association, Life Insurance Council of New York and Partnership for New York City spent on lobbying efforts.

Bloomberg compiled the data from filings posted to the state ethics commission website. In most cases, the lobbyists also represented the firms on other legislation.

Supporters of the bills, including labor unions, Catholic church-affiliated groups and non-governmental organizations, have vowed to push ahead when lawmakers reconvene in January.

The measures can be picked up in the committees where they stalled. Sponsors say they are pushing for a hearing on the bills this fall.

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