Financial Reform Topic Archive

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Profiting From Recession, Payday Lenders Spend Big to Fight Regulation

The influential $42 billion-a-year payday lending industry, thriving from a surge in emergency loans to people struggling through the recession, is pouring record sums into lobbying, campaign contributions, and public relations – and getting results.

By Keith Epstein2 March 2010

VIDEO: Barney Frank: Consumer Reforms at Risk in Senate

Financial reform legislation faces an uncertain future in the Senate where Republicans stand opposed to creating a new consumer protection agency. Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), who ushered a financial overhaul through the House last month, explains how the agency was tempered in his bill and may not survive the Senate. President Obama has said creating the agency is a must. » Related Story: Dodd’s Departure Could Endanger Potential Consumer Agency

By Lagan Sebert and Ben Protess
7 January 2010

Dodd’s Departure Could Endanger Potential Consumer Agency

It’s the question buzzing around Washington and Wall Street this week: Will Sen. Christopher Dodd’s sudden retirement announcement further jeopardize his already thorny task of overhauling the nation’s financial regulatory system?

At risk in particular, some Capitol Hill observers say, may be a proposal to create a new consumer protection agency that President Obama has characterized as a must for financial reform.

By Ben Protess and Lagan Sebert
7 January 2010

Barney Frank vs. the Credit Raters

After deftly dodging federal regulation for years, the nation’s top credit rating companies now must get past the formidable Barney Frank.

Last week, as the U.S. House debated the Wall Street reform package crafted largely by Frank, the Massachusetts Democrat quietly slipped regulations into the bill that would force the most significant overhaul of the credit rating industry to date.

By Ben Protess18 December 2009

Financial Reform Moves Forward, With Many Loopholes

As Congress inches toward restructuring financial regulation, lawmakers in the House and Senate have characterized their respective bills as historic. But proposals focused on consumer protection, derivatives and credit rating agencies still allow broad exemptions for key players.

By Rachel Leven and Maria Zilberman
10 December 2009

VIDEO: Consumer Agency Gains, But Foes Remain

The Obama administration’s plan for a new regulatory agency to protect consumers has cleared a major legislative hurdle – but it still faces strong opposition from Republicans, business interests and some federal regulators.

By Amanda Zamora and Lagan Sebert
22 October 2009