U.S. regulators saved Bear to help market-Treasury

Bear Stearns as facing
bankruptcy on March 14 without a major liquidity injection and U.S. regulators
acted to save the company with the broader market in mind, a senior Treasury
official will say on Thursday.

In the days before the Wall
Street giant was bought by JP Morgan Chase “regulators were continuously
communicating with one another, working collaboratively, and keeping each other
apprised of the changing circumstances,” Treasury Undersecretary for
Domestic Finance Robert Steel will tell the Senate Banking Committee, according
to prepared remarks.

“Our focus was not on
this specific institution, but on the more strategic concern of the
implications of a bankruptcy,” he said. “The failure of a firm that
was connected to so many corners of our markets would have caused financial
disruptions beyond Wall Street.”