Several much-anticipated details of Sen. Chris Dodd's (D - Conn.) financial reform bill have been revealed, The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal report this morning.
After weeks of negotiations broke down last week with Republicans, Dodd is expected to introduce his own financial reform bill on Monday afternoon, a decision that shocked some groups pushing for reform. Though the full bill will likely be released Monday, the NYT and the WSJ have some key details (which are also neatly summarized by Calculated Risk.)
"The biggest winner," the WSJ notes, seems to be the Federal Reserve, which would house the proposed Consumer Financial Protection Agency. Under the bill, the CFPA would have rule-making authority and would be led by a director appointed by the president.
(For more on the details on Dodd's version of the CFPA, see our latest report here.)
The Fed, under the Dodd bill, would also reportedly be responsible for overseeing any financial institution with assets of more than $50 billion. This amounts to something of a coup for the Fed, the WSJ points out: "Only a week ago, [Senate negotiators] had thought the Fed would only be able to examine roughly two dozen banks, those that held more than $100 billion in assets."
The bill also calls for a new systemic risk council that would be headed by Treasury Department and include "representatives of the Fed, the new consumer agency, the FDIC, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Federal Housing Finance Agency -- along with an official appointed to monitor the insurance industry, which is largely regulated by the states," the NYT reports.
And though the new CFPA would have rule-making authority under the Dodd bill, its decisions could be "overturned by a two-thirds vote of the new systemic risk council, or 6 of the 8 members," according to the NYT.
Read the full piece at the NYT here -- and check out the WSJ's piece here.