Manatt Partner Discusses Dodd-Frank Act Tweaking with Compliance Week
"The Corrections: Battle Lines Drawn Over Dodd-Frank Act Fixes"
Compliance Week
April 9, 2013 - Manatt's Craig Miller, co-chair of the firm's Financial Services & Banking Practice, spoke to Compliance Week about congressional Republicans' latest attempts to tweak the Dodd-Frank Act.
As reported by Compliance Week, congressional Republicans have failed in repeated attempts to repeal Dodd-Frank completely, so they are now working to make changes to it, such as cleaning up fuzzy definitions and faulty language, among other revisions.
"Where we may see some movement are areas that aren't considered so much as weakening, but rather facilitating what Dodd-Frank meant to accomplish, and recognizing that not all financial institutions are created equal," said Miller. "There is a general sense of recognition that smaller community banks, for example, should be treated differently than larger banks."
The Senate is also considering legislation that would require more vigorous cost-benefit analysis. For example, the Financial Regulatory Responsibility Act of 2013 requires "rigorous, consistent and economic analysis" of every new regulation proposed by the SEC and other top regulators, as well as self-regulatory organizations. Other senators have similarly introduced legislation requiring the SEC and other federal agencies to conduct a cost-benefit analysis of regulations with a $100 million impact on the economy.
Miller doesn't see any of the various bills related to cost-benefit analysis gaining much traction. "Those are perceived as attempts to stop Dodd-Frank in its tracks," he said. "If you are required to do an extraordinary cost-benefit analysis for every piece of legislation that comes out, nothing will ever get accomplished."