In uncharted waters, experience is your best guide. The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act maps out a new course in financial regulation. As noted recently by president Obama, the new regulations "represent the strongest consumer financial protections in history." Included in the reforms is the creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a consumer watchdog whose role will be, in the words of president Obama, "looking out for people – not big banks, not lenders, not investment houses – in the financial system." 
 
In short, these regulations will indelibly alter the consumer financial landscape, and businesses who ignore them do so at their own peril. But while the route is new, the skills needed to navigate it are not. Venable has the experience to guide businesses through what lies ahead in financial and consumer regulation.

Sweeping changes to banking and financial regulation.

The Dodd-Frank Act is the most sweeping financial legislation in decades, signaling a new era of tighter regulation and heightened enforcement. The legislation includes 300 new rules and regulations and more than 50 studies.

A central element of the Act is the creation of a new Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection, an independent watchdog housed within the Federal Reserve System. Taking on powers formerly exercised by various regulatory agencies, the bureau is authorized to write and enforce consumer protection regulations targeting a broad range of financial services and products.

Other provisions of the act set new requirements for banks, mortgage lenders, insurers, investment advisors, hedge funds, private-equity funds, ratings agencies, and companies that trade or sell derivatives.

A spectrum of new regulations seen through the prism of our experience.

For businesses that fall under this consumer protection legislation, uncertainty lies ahead in the form of new regulations and enforcement powers.

Venable is uniquely prepared to guide companies through this uncertain environment. We have multiple, long-established practices focused on the intersection of consumer protection and government regulation in finance and commerce. Our decades of experience span advertising and marketing, banking and financial services regulation, corporate and consumer finance, nonprofit and trade association law, and legislative and government affairs.

We are skilled practitioners of consumer protection law. While the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection is new, it takes over responsibilities from agencies we know intimately – such as the Federal Trade Commission, the Treasury Department, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Federal Reserve System – and in areas of law that we know inside and out.

With uncertainty ahead, businesses need a trusted guide.

The Dodd-Frank Act is unprecedented in its scope. But the issues it addresses and the businesses it affects are ones we know well. For decades, Venable has helped companies navigate regulatory and legislative initiatives and the laws governing commerce, finance and trade. Our experience is your best guide.