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Factbox: Winners and losers in the U.S. financial bill

Thu Jul 15, 2010 3:51pm EDT

(Reuters) - The Senate on Thursday approved legislation to overhaul the financial system and usher in new rules for Wall Street, sending it to President Barack Obama to sign into law.

Below are some of the likely winners and losers under the regulation bill:

CREDIT RATING AGENCIES - WIN AND LOSE

* Credit rating agencies -- such as Moody's Corp, Standard & Poor's and Fitch Ratings -- will be subject to greater liability.

* Rating agencies could be sued if they "recklessly" failed to review key information in developing a rating.

* The Securities and Exchange Commission will be given two years to find a way to mitigate conflicts of interests at the biggest rating agencies -- Moody's, S&P and Fitch, which are paid by the issuers whose debt they rate. This gives them breathing space but if the SEC does not find a solution the regulator is required to implement a proposal by Senator Al Franken and create a board to assign rating agencies to debt issuers.

* Federal regulators will be required to remove references to credit rating in their rules in an effort to reduce reliance on the credit rating agencies.

LARGE FINANCIAL FIRMS - WIN AND LOSE

* Large financial firms such as Bank of America and Goldman Sachs will be prohibited from proprietary trading and only be allowed to make minimum investments in hedge funds and private equity funds.

* Large firms will also face tougher standards in what qualifies for the capital they are required to set aside to protect against potential losses and ensure they do not threaten the stability of the financial system.

* Banks such as Goldman and JPMorgan Chase will be forced to spin off some of their profitable derivatives business or risk losing access to the Federal Reserve's emergency funds. But banks will still be allowed to trade their biggest volume instruments such as foreign exchange and interest rate swaps.

* The firms' financial products such as mortgages and credit cards will be subjected to new rules from a newly created bureau designed to protect customers from risky products.

* Most derivatives trade will be forced onto exchanges or handled through clearinghouses, in an attempt to limit the effect that large, risky trades can have on the economy, another factor that could curb bank profits. Nonfinancial players such as manufacturers, however, would be exempt.

SMALL BANKS - WIN

* The Fed -- the U.S. central bank -- will continue supervising small banks. Small banks wanted to maintain a supervisory structure they were familiar with.

* Banking regulators will be the primary regulator to enforce rules for small banks' financial products. The new consumer financial regulator will provide backup enforcement.

U.S. FEDERAL RESERVE - WIN

* Gains powers to supervise systemically important financial firms.

* Retains authority to supervise banks of all sizes.

* Part of a "risk council" that will have authority to monitor risk in the financial system and decide whether a large complex company needs to divest assets.

* Becomes home for the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Will have power along with other regulators to appeal the consumer protection bureau's rules if deemed to undermine stability of financial system or banks' deposits.

* The Fed escaped congressional reviews of its monetary policy but will be subject to reviews of its emergency lending and open market activities.

* Democrats and Republicans originally wanted to strip the Fed of its powers to supervise banks and confine it to setting monetary policy and acting as the lender of last resort.

CONSUMERS - WIN

* New rules to protect consumers from risky financial products could only be overturned by banking regulators if they believe the rules could threaten the financial system or banks' deposits.

* The new consumer regulator will be housed in the Federal Reserve, which has been criticized for failing to rein in the risky lending that contributed to the financial crisis.

* The consumer regulator will get funding from the Fed and would get the authority to request more funds from Congress.

* The consumer regulator will be able to write its own rules for a slew of products such as mortgages and credit cards and enforce those rules.

INVESTORS/SHAREHOLDERS - WIN AND LOSE

* Broker-dealers who provide financial advice will not immediately be required to have fiduciary duties, which would require them to act in their clients' best interests. The SEC must first study the issue for six months and then would have authority to impose those requirements if it determines they are necessary.

* Publicly traded companies will be required to ask shareholders whether they want a nonbinding vote on executive pay annually, once every two years, or once every three years. Originally, Democrats wanted to give shareholders an annual say on executive pay.

* The SEC will have the authority to give shareholders an easier and cheaper way to nominate corporate board directors.

* The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board will be required to impose fiduciary duties on municipal bond advisers.

AUTO DEALERS - WIN

Auto dealers that do financing will be exempt from oversight by the new consumer bureau and stay within the jurisdiction of the Federal Trade Commission.

PRIVATE POOLS OF CAPITAL - WIN

* Advisers to hedge funds and private equity funds with more than $150 million in assets will be required to register with the SEC. Venture capital funds will be exempt.

CLEARINGHOUSES - WIN

* Derivatives clearinghouses will be able to borrow in emergencies from the Federal Reserve, as long as the systemic risk council, a majority of Fed governors and the Treasury Secretary decide it is necessary.

LAW FIRMS - WIN

* Regulators such as the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and Securities and Exchange Commission will have scores of rules to write in coming months to implement the legislation, meaning lots of billable hours for law firms and consultants advising clients on how to respond to proposed rules.

CFTC/SEC - WIN

* The CFTC and SEC will gain new authority to regulate the $615 trillion over-the-counter derivatives market.

* The SEC will win power to oversee the hedge fund industry.

(Reporting by Charles Abbott, Kim Dixon, Roberta Rampton, Rachelle Younglai; Additional reporting by Ann Saphir in Chicago; Editing by Anthony Boadle and Leslie Adler)

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Comments (2)
GA_Chris wrote:
As usual in any rules coming out of DC, these are a mix of compromise and insane details (in the original text). The only people to really gain are the law school buddies of the corrupt politicians who drew up the law.
Why can’t we carve lawyers out of this? they add cost and complication, without adding clarity and fairness

Jul 16, 2010 10:18am EDT  --  Report as abuse
remarkedvial wrote:
As an frustrated independant sceptical of the government’s ability to pass bills that actually help small business succeed and protect the people from large business risk, this looks like a decent bill, or at least a good start.

Thanks Reuters for provided a clear and hopefully accurate subjective analysis. Was this kind of analysis availble to the politicians who voted and rallied against it this week (almost all the republicans from what I’m seeing), and if so, or if I’m wrong, please explain why (with facts) these seemingly nessesary financial protections should be repealed.

Jul 16, 2010 12:44pm EDT  --  Report as abuse
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