Financial Reform Reshapes Landscape

Now that the financial overhaul bill, passed Thursday by the Senate, is on the threshold of becoming law, bankers and regulators are busy predicting how things will change. The legislation empowers 10 regulatory agencies with the ability to write new rules governing all aspects of the financial industry—from the types of trades banks can conduct to the standards for mortgages, credit cards, and ATM fees. Many of these decisions will be made by regulators, and this has lawmakers on both the right and the left worried: Those on the right worry about government overreach, while those on the left worry about regulators becoming cozy with lobbyists. Indeed, the banking industry has been reaching out to regulators for months, and JP Morgan Chase has more than 100 teams studying the legislation.