House Takes Up Financial Overhaul

The House Financial Services Committee is set to take up key parts of President Obama’s proposal for new financial regulation Wednesday—including a measure that would for the first time regulate derivatives like credit-default swaps, which almost brought down AIG. The House committee will also consider creating a Consumer Financial Protection Agency to police mortgages, credit cards, and other consumer products offered by big banks. "The big banks have no clout," said chairman Barney Frank. "Bank of America, J.P. Morgan Chase. Nobody cares what they think, literally." But the U.S. Chamber of Commerce—the nation’s largest business lobby—is opposing. Frank hopes the measures pass committee by the week’s end.