The Dodd-Frank Act of 2010 was created to solve the problems revealed by the financial crisis, and it placed enormous power into the hands of the federal banking agencies. Since the reform law was created, little has been done to restore the public's confidence in the government's ability to police the financial system.
American Banker's Editor at Large Barbara Rehm believes it is a "cop-out" for agencies and regulators to tell the public that nothing has been done because Dodd-Frank is both complicated and contradictory. She believes there are plenty of steps regulators should have taken by now.
"Dodd-Frank specified every banking company with more than $50 billion in assets as 'systemically important' and therefore subject to much closer scrutiny. The law asked the regulators to identify which firms beyond banking - insurers, finance companies, hedge funds, private equity investors - should also be subject to this extra oversight. The agencies have cranked out lots of paper on how they will designate these firms, but they've yet to actually name one," writes Rehm.
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