Anything but funny: the Dodd-Frank Act

THE ALCHEMIST

Banks and their asset management divisions might still be poring over the implications of the new Basel III capital adequacy rules, but coming up fast on the outside of the global regulatory race to rectitude is the Dodd-Frank Act from the US.

If it sounds like a stand-up comedy routine, it is not. In fact, for those all along the investment chain, it will be anything but a laughing matter. Rammed through in July by an Administration still smarting from various Wall Street rebuffs, it has two deadly serious aims: to address the perceived imbalance that tipped global financial markets over the precipice two years ago, and to position the US very firmly ahead of every other regulatory initiative around the world. The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, named after its principal authors Senator Christopher ...