Dodd-Frank Act

The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, sponsored by Senator Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.) and Representative Barney Frank (D-Mass.), is a piece of federal legislation brought in to re-regulate US banks and financial markets in the wake of the 2008 global financial crisis. It was enacted in 2010, in its own words, “to promote the financial stability of the United States by improving accountability and transparency in the financial system, to end ‘‘too big to fail’’, to protect the American taxpayer by ending bailouts, to protect consumers from abusive financial services practices, and for other purposes”. Section 619, known as the Volcker Rule, set prohibitions on bank proprietary trading and on banks’ relationships with hedge funds and private equity funds.