1,000 Cuts to Dodd-Frank

Since President Donald Trump signed an executive order last year seeking ways to ease banking rules prompted by the global financial crisis, much has happened—but not much has been completed.

On Wednesday, the U.S. Senate took the most concrete step so far, passing a bill that provides considerable regulatory relief to smaller lenders such as regional and community banks. Yet it’s probably the least worrisome for defenders of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act, the bedrock law enacted to prevent a future financial meltdown.

The House would have to approve a bill akin to the Senate’s for it to become law. A core element of the Senate legislation raises the threshold established in Dodd-Frank for being considered a systemically important bank—a label that imposes annual stress testing and other requirements on firms.

Lifting the threshold to $250 billion from $50 billion would also likely benefit midsize regional banks, which would face fewer restrictions and lower compliance costs. There are a few elements of the Senate bill that even help the largest banks, though most of their attempts to get further concessions from legislators failed.

Among the top goals of Dodd-Frank was ending bailouts of “too-big-to-fail” firms whose collapse would risk bringing down the rest of the financial system. In addition to Dodd-Frank, global regulators revised the international capital regime known as Basel and introduced liquidity rules for all of the largest banks worldwide to follow.