Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform & Consumer Protection Act

Beginning in 2007, U.S. financial conditions deteriorated, leading to the near collapse of the U.S. financial system in September 2008. Major banks, insurers, government-sponsored enterprises and investment banks either failed or required hundreds of billions in federal support to continue functioning. Congress responded to the crisis by enacting the most comprehensive financial reform legislation since the 1930s. The Dodd-Frank Act creates a new regulatory umbrella group with authority to designate certain financial firms as "systemically significant" and subjecting them to increased prudential regulation, including limits on leverage, heightened capital standards and restrictions on certain forms of risky trading. This book reviews issues related to financial regulation and provides brief descriptions of major provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act.