Blankfein: Rigorous accounting rules are needed

Goldman Sachs Group Inc Chief Executive Officer Lloyd Blankfein said the financial industry shouldn't abandon the "mark-to-market" accounting rules that some banks blame for aggravating global economic woes.

The rules, which require banks to book profits or losses when asset values rise or fall, should be even more rigorous, Blankfein wrote in an op-ed piece published yesterday on the Financial Times's website. New York-based Goldman's adherence to the practice "was a key contributor to our decision to reduce risk relatively early" in the credit crisis, he wrote.

"This process can be difficult, and sometimes painful, but I believe it is a discipline that should define financial institutions," wrote Blankfein, 54. "If more institutions had properly valued their positions and commitments at the outset, they would have been in a much better position to reduce their exposures."