Financial Regulatory Forum

By Ted Knutson

WASHINGTON, July 21 (Thomson Reuters Accelus) – A political stalemate over the consumer protection bureau created under the Dodd-Frank financial regulation overhaul is allowing payday loan firms and other non-bank lenders to escape the agency’s authority for now, but industry participants say they have nonetheless boosted lending and disclosure standards.

Institutions including non-bank mortgage companies, student loan providers and payday lenders, and their trade organizations discussed their views with Thomson Reuters before Thursday’s official launch of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

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By Scott McCleskey, Complinet

The past year was a busy one for those interested in financial reform – you know, Dodd-Frank and all that. But the new year will be even more fateful in shaping the markets for decades to come. It is likely to be the most critical of the post-financial crisis period. The reason is that Dodd-Frank only gave the regulators their marching orders, and 2010 mostly saw just the preliminaries to the really tough regulation. It will be in 2011 that actual rules will be proposed, finalized and implemented – and all by mid-year, if deadlines are met. It will also be when the Republicans hit the beach in the House and attempt to moderate or reverse many of the reforms already underway.

There will be a tidal wave of Dodd-Frank work, and some areas of focus are already obvious. The launch and first steps of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will be one, and the rather iffy implementation of derivatives regulation will be another. These items have been and will continue to be covered by this organization and others. But there are other items largely outside the Dodd-Frank ecosystem which bear a close watch over the coming year – and there are also some receiving a lot of press lately which can be ignored. (more…)

By Ted Knutson, Complinet

As Democratic U.S. Senator Christopher Dodd prepares to leave office, Republicans are threatening to chip away at what may be his biggest legislative accomplishment: the Wall Street regulation overhaul he helped steer through Congress this year as chairman of the Senate Banking Committee. It was the biggest fix to the financial regulatory system in 70 years, and Republicans emboldened by November election gains are looking to deny regulators the extra money they want to enforce it, and to delay seating a head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).

Dodd said in an interview with ThomsonReuters unit Complinet that the damage to a “real darn good bill” could be real, but not complete. In his half-hour interview last Friday, Dodd looked ahead to the future of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act and back at the two-year process that led to its creation.

Complinet: How much would it damage regulatory reform if Republicans block budget increases for the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission that say they need to implement it? (more…)