Dodd Unveils Financial-Overhaul Measure

By MICHAEL R. CRITTENDEN
WSJ

WASHINGTON -- Sen. Chris Dodd introduced a wide-ranging financial-regulatory-overhaul measure Tuesday, seeking more ambitious changes in some areas than the regime envisioned by the White House or his counterparts in the House of Representatives.

The Connecticut Democrat's discussion draft, running more than 1,100 pages, would create an Agency for Financial Stability that would be tasked with identifying and removing systemic risks to the economy. It also would consolidate bank supervision into a single regulator--the Financial Institutions Regulatory Administration--and create a new Consumer Financial Protection Agency to oversee the products made available to consumers.

The systemic-risk agency would have wide authority to collect and use information in order to mitigate potential risks to the economy. It could require both domestic and foreign-owned financial firms that are deemed systemic risks to face enhanced supervision and standards that would be "increasing in stringency with the size and complexity of the specified financial company."

(More here.)