Business lashes out as Obama signs finance reforms into law
AMERICAN business groups rounded on President Barack Obama as he signed the country’s historic finance reform bill into law last night.
Sealing the most comprehensive overhaul of banking regulation since the 1930s, Obama acknowledged the importance of the financial industry. But he declared: “Because of this law, the American people will never again be asked to foot the bill for Wall Street’s mistakes.”
The legislation will create a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to oversee mortgage and credit-related businesses, set up a Financial Services Oversight Council to act as an early warning radar for corporate problems, give regulators the power to dismantle troubled firms and force derivatives onto exchanges. It will cap banks’ stakes in hedge funds and private equity at three per cent of their capital.
Obama won applause as the law was passed in the symbolic location of the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington. However, the US Chamber of Commerce said: “Such a broad, sweeping bill epitomises a law with unintended consequences that creates more uncertainty for American businesses.”