Dodd-Frank's four years through troubled waters

When Lehman Brothers collapsed in 2008, it set off a series of financial and political events that have had significant ripple effects to this day.  One of the consequences was the passage in 2010 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, otherwise known simply as “Dodd-Frank,” which was meant to reign-in the reckless behavior of banks and other financial institutions.

Among the reforms implemented by Dodd-Frank, was the creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau tasked with protecting consumers from predatory financial products.  It also created the Financial Stability Oversight Council to check risky behavior in the financial industry. And Dodd-Frank also instituted the Volker Rule, which prohibits banks from making speculative investments.

But four years after the passage of the Dodd-Frank, reviews of the effectiveness of the law have been mixed. According to a new national poll conducted by Better Markets, a majority of Americans still distrust Wall Street and support stronger regulation of the financial industry.

When asked if the market is rigged, 64 percent of the respondents said yes. And when asked if they support stricter Federal regulation of banks and other financial institutions, 60 percent of the respondents said they would be in favor of more regulation of the financial industry.

According to Dennis Kelleher, CEO of Better Markets, “the American people don’t see Dodd-Frank as a failure. I think that they see that the implementation of the law so far has not been effective enough.”

Six years after the worst financial collapse in modern history and four years after the passage of Dodd-Frank, Americans still remain deeply troubled about the course of reform on Wall Street.