Dodd–Frank Act
regulatory act implemented by the Obama administration after the 2008 financial crisis
The Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, commonly referred to as the Dodd–Frank Act, is a United States federal law enacted on July 21, 2010, as the primary legislative response to the 2007–2008 financial crisis—the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. Named for its sponsors, Senator Chris Dodd and Representative Barney Frank, the law was signed by President Barack Obama on July 21, 2010. Its stated purposes are to promote financial stability, end "too big to fail," prevent taxpayer-funded bailouts, and protect consumers from abusive financial practices.
The act reorganized financial regulation through three major reforms: it created the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to protect consumers against predatory lending and unfair financial practices; it established the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) to monitor systemic risks and designate firms as "systemically important"; and it created the Orderly Liquidation Authority to wind down large failing financial institutions without taxpayer bailouts.
Key regulatory changes include the Volcker Rule, which restricts banks from making speculative investments with depositor funds; requirements for derivatives to be traded through regulated clearinghouses; enhanced Federal Reserve oversight of large financial institutions; and new standards for mortgage lending and credit rating agencies. The law also strengthened whistleblower protections and established data collection requirements for small business lending.
Dodd–Frank is considered one of the most significant financial laws since the New Deal. The CFPB has returned over $21 billion to consumers harmed by illegal practices. Critics argued the law imposed excessive compliance costs on smaller financial institutions, and in 2018, the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act rolled back certain requirements, particularly for banks with assets below $250 billion.
Origins and proposal
The 2008 financial crisis led to widespread calls for changes in the regulatory system.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 26, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1234044. VIAF identifies the subject as 183373717. The Library of Congress control number is no2010151934. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2010, 2007, 2008 and 2018.
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This entry incorporates text from “Dodd–Frank Act” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.