Chairman Dodd showing his bill as less expansive than his original idea, but still significantly better than what he had originally designed with Corker.
Dodd Unveils Comprehensive Bill
Here's the details on the Consumer Protection Agency:
A centerpiece of the bill would place a new consumer protection division within the Fed, with a director appointed by the president. The agency would have broad rule writing power to create policies governing all financial companies, not just banks. It would take a two-thirds vote of a new systemic-risk council to overturn any policy, according to people briefed on the plan.
This division, which Mr. Dodd has referred to as a "watchdog," would have more power than many in the banking industry expected just a few days ago. It would be able to issue sanctions against any bank with more than $10 billion of assets. It would also be able to punish certain nonbank lenders, though it would likely be up to regulators to determine which industries would be subject to such enforcement.
The Fed would also have new powers to police the U.S.'s payment and settlement system to ensure that money is flowing between banks in a safe and sound way.
Note, there's several different things as compared to bill that was being discussed. There's no mention on constantly informing the regulators at the Fed of all of the decisions they make. There's no more instant vetoes if one of them disapproves. It now requires a 2/3 vote to overrule a decision made by the consumer protection "watchdog". Notice, that Dodd is calling it a "Watchdog" rather than an agency. I'm assuming that's for political purposes. A lot of the restrictions were taken off at the behest of Jack Reed.
Further, there's no restrictions as to what is governed under the "watchdog", including payday lenders. To top it off there's even further possible restrictions on banks within the states, though that's within the Fed's council of consumer regulators.
In addition, there's a variety of other fixes and other regulations on derivatives. This is better than Dodd's original bill, it's important that the work is now done in the light of day and not behind closed doors. That should make it easier to get a better deal. Though we'll see.