Financial Crisis, Financial Regulation | featured news

The 2008 financial crisis roiled the banking system and swamped the global economy, leaving millions of Americans jobless, underemployed or facing foreclosure. In its wake, Congress set out to overhaul how the government oversees Wall Street. The result was a sprawling law, the Dodd-Frank Act, which aims to prevent future crises by giving the government new tools and restricting banks' activities. The law may make future crises less likely, but it increases costs for companies, especially banks, and their customers.

Global financial regulators on Sunday agreed on new banking rules designed to strengthen bank finances and rein in excessive risk-taking to help prevent another crisis.

Congress must act to close gaps in the regulatory system that helped cause the financial crisis, a former head of the Securities and Exchange Commission said....