Key amendments to Wall St reform bill

Posted on Reuters.com.  Click here to view original article.

Reporting by Kevin Drawbaugh, Andy Sullivan, Rachelle Younglai and Karey Wutkowski, Editing by Leslie Adler
Fri May 14, 2010 8:55pm BST


May 14 (Reuters) - With the U.S. Senate headed into the home stretch on a sweeping overhaul of financial regulation, nearly 300 amendments still have yet to be addressed.

Most of them will not come up for a vote. Following is a snapshot of some which the Senate could address with over the next several days:


Strengthen "Volcker rule"

The amendment would strengthen a part of the main Democratic bill dealing with a proposal from President Barack Obama and economic adviser Paul Volcker that would bar banks from proprietary trading for their own accounts, unrelated to the needs of their customers. The amendment would widen the rule to apply not only to banks, but also to large, interconnected nonbank financial institutions.


Auto dealer exemption

Amendment would exempt auto dealers from the full reach of the new consumer finance watchdog if the dealers do not do finance their own lending to car buyers.


Reversal of Supreme Court ruling on Stoneridge

The amendment would clear the way for shareholders to sue third parties such as banks, lawyers and accountants that are not directly involved in a securities fraud cases.

A 2008 Supreme Court decision in the Stoneridge case helped protect those that aid and abet financial fraud.


Strengthen state interest-rate caps

This would strengthen the authority of state regulators to enforce state usury caps against financial institutions that are based elsewhere but have customers in that state.


Give federal regulators more power over states

This would give federal authorities more power to preempt state regulations. The White House opposes the measure, saying it would harm efforts to protect consumers.


Reinstate Glass-Steagall

Financial giants could be broken up under an amendment to reinstate the 1930s-era Glass-Steagall laws that barred large banks from affiliating with securities firms and insurers.

Those limits were largely repealed in 1999, a high-water mark for deregulation that critics say marked the beginning of changes that culminated in the 2008-09 financial debacle.

Passage of the amendment could force firms at the center of the crisis -- such as Goldman Sachs (GS.N), Morgan Stanley (MS.N), Citigroup (C.N), JPMorgan Chase (JPM.N) and Wells Fargo (WFC.N) -- to spin off investment and insurance operations.


Restore Federal Trade Commission powers

This would allow both the Federal Trade Commission and the new consumer financial protection entity to enforce some regulations.


Disclose consumer credit scores

This amendment, scheduled for a vote on May 17, would require credit bureaus to tell consumers their credit scores when they are used to reject a loan or charge a higher interest rate.


Enable retail price discounting

This would change antitrust laws to allow retailers to sell products below a minimum price set by the manufacturer.


Remove antitrust exemption for health insurers

This would aim to boost competition among health insurers by removing their antitrust exemption.


Minimize impact on small businesses

This would require regulatory agencies to consider the impact any new regulations may have on small businesses before they are enacted, and consider alternatives that would not increase their borrowing costs.

 
Private equity, venture capital fund oversight

The amendment would require managers of private equity and venture capital funds to register with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Democratic bill in the Senate would only require hedge fund managers to register with the SEC.