President Barack Obama met with Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and other financial regulators to urge quicker progress on implementing the Dodd- Frank law.
The closed-door meeting at the White House today also included Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew, the Comptroller of the Currency, the director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the acting director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, and the chairmen of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., National Credit Union Administration, and Securities and Exchange Commission.
The administration provided no details on the discussion.
Obama’s intent was to “convey to them the sense of urgency that he feels” about getting all the Dodd-Frank rules fully in place, deputy White House press secretary Josh Earnest said. “There’s no doubt they have a tall order.”
A White House statement released after the meeting said Obama also discussed the need for a simpler housing finance system “that better serves middle-class families” and cooperation among agencies involved in financial market regulation.
The Dodd-Frank Act, signed into law by Obama in July 2010, expanded the central bank’s power to oversee the largest financial institutions and gave regulators new tools aimed at preventing a repeat of the 2007-2009 financial crisis. It imposed new rules onderivatives, limits the ability of banks to trade on their own account and new rules for mortgages.
