In the wake of Barack Obama’s re-election, the U.S. securities industry is calling for his administration to reconsider its financial industry regulatory reform, known as Dodd-Frank.
“With the beginning of his second term in office, president Obama, his administration and regulators should take time to review the goals of Dodd-Frank—which were to create a safer and stronger financial system—to ensure that the process is helping achieve that and if not, find a better approach to getting it done,” said Tim Ryan, president and CEO of industry lobby group, the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA), in a statement.
The industry has lobbied against various aspects of the reform effort, such as the Volcker Rule, which calls for banks to separate their proprietary trading, hedge fund and private equity businesses. It has also singled out other aspects of Dodd-Frank as critical to the industry, including fiduciary standards, systemic risk regulation, derivatives market reforms, securitization, and resolution authority.
At the same time, it is also concerned about the U.S. fiscal situation. “Another important area that is critical to economic growth and our recovery is ensuring that both Democrats and Republicans come together and address the fiscal cliff,” Ryan added. “The potentially negative market consequences of not dealing with this issue are simply too great to ignore.”