ABA Issues Detailed Analysis of Financial Regulatory Reform Bill

WASHINGTON — The American Bankers Association today released a comprehensive analysis of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.  The exclusive study, prepared for ABA by Dechert LLP attorneys, is available at www.aba.com and www.dechert.com.

“This is a massive piece of legislation that will, for decades to come, redefine the delivery and regulation of financial services, as well as the resolution of systemically significant companies that find themselves in distress,” said Dechert partner Thomas P. Vartanian, who leads the firm’s financial institutions team.

Vartanian, Robert H. Ledig, and David L. Ansell were the primary authors of the study with support from a group of Dechert attorneys from a variety of practice areas.

Vartanian’s sentiments were echoed by Edward L. Yingling, ABA president and chief executive officer, who noted that while the bill contains some key provisions that bankers supported, it also unnecessarily adds to the already crushing regulatory burden faced by traditional banks.

“The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act is unprecedented in scope and will usher in a new era of financial services regulation,” said Yingling.  “Unfortunately, legislators took a ‘while-we’re-at-it’ approach during the bill’s journey, imposing unrelated new restrictions on traditional banks that were more victim than villain in the financial crisis.”

The analysis released today addresses the many areas of regulatory focus contained in the law.  These include: systemic safety; orderly liquidation of large bank holding companies and non-bank financial companies; consumer protection; prudential supervisory enhancements; restrictions on proprietary trading and private equity/hedge fund investments; agency consolidation; derivatives and hedging activities; financial market utilities and payments, clearing, and settlement practices; mortgage reform; capital, liquidity, and risk retention; credit rating agencies; insurance industry oversight; and hedge fund advisors.

Dechert’s financial institutions practice advises leading companies in the financial services industry on a wide variety of sophisticated transactional and litigation matters, including mergers and acquisitions, private equity investments, securities offerings, proxy contests, bank regulatory issues, internal and government investigations, and securities class action litigation.

The Dodd-Frank conference report still has to be approved by the Senate, which is expected to happen this week, and be signed by the President before it becomes law.

The American Bankers Association represents banks of all sizes and charters and is the voice for the nation’s $13 trillion banking industry and its two million employees. The majority of ABA’s members are banks with less than $165 million in assets. Learn more at aba.com.