Wall Street Reform Bill Promises No Actual Financial Industry Reform

The massive Wall Street reform bill passed last week by the Senate was too vague and fails to accomplish the objective of actually reforming the U.S. financial services industry, says Scott A. Meyers, a well-known financial services industry attorney who previously worked alongside former SEC chairman Harvey Pitt.  Mr. Meyers, now a partner at Ulmer & Berne LLP in Chicago, has litigated numerous high-profile securities fraud cases, and currently represents several domestic and international hedge funds in significant litigation matters involving mortgage-backed securities fraud, accountant liability, portfolio allocation fraud, and margin liquidation issues.

"The substantial majority of the provisions in the bill merely instruct and/or delegate to financial regulators, the authority to issue implementing regulations within specific time periods ranging from one day to five years, with many rules to be promulgated within six- to 18-months after the President signs the bill," Mr. Meyers says.  "In addition, the discretion allocated to the regulators in evaluating, creating, and implementing these rules and regulations is really quite broad.  So the real dirty work of actually reforming our financial services infrastructure, which Congress conveniently left to the unelected regulators, has yet to be done."

Mr. Meyers is available for interviews on all aspects of the Wall Street reform bill and can serve as an ongoing source on this topic. [07/19/2010]