Created as a response to the late-2000s recession, The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act represents the most significant changes to financial regulation in the United States since the regulatory reforms that followed the Great Depression. Among its measures, Dodd-Frank includes corporate governance and executive compensation reforms, new registration requirements for hedge fund and private equity fund advisers, heightened regulation of over-the-counter derivatives and asset-backed securities and new rules and better oversight for credit rating agencies. Dodd-Frank also mandates significant changes to the authority of the Federal Reserve and the Securities and Exchange Commission as well as enhanced oversight and regulation of banks, insurance companies and non-bank financial institutions.
Dodd-Frank gives the SEC the authority to implement a rule that would subject brokers to the same fiduciary standard for retail investment advice that investment advisers must now meet. Currently, brokers adhere to a less stringent suitability standard.
