Issue Position: Wall Street Reform

Issue Position

As a senior member of the Banking Committee, Senator Reed has put consumers first and worked to increase investor protections, improve the transparency of complex financial markets and products, and toughen federal oversight of investment banks and securities firms.

Reed has focused particular attention on improving the ability of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to aggressively pursue fraud, improve its risk management capabilities, and protect investors by enhancing the agency's technological resources to police Wall Street. He has authored laws strengthening the SEC's ability to bring enforcement actions, addressing issues revealed by the Madoff fraud, and modernizing the SEC's ability to obtain critical information.

In order to bring transparency and accountability to Wall Street, Senator Reed helped write several key pieces of the historic Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, including a provision establishing a new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. He also created the independent Office of Financial Research, which will research, model, and analyze risk throughout the financial system. This should give financial regulators the data and analytical power they need to understand the factors that threaten our financial system, provide early warnings, and allow regulators to act on this information.

When taxpayers were forced to invest in banks to save the economy from total collapse, Reed wrote the law ensuring they would share in the rewards when the banks recovered. As a result of Reed's efforts, $8.5 billion and counting has been generated for taxpayers.

Key Priorities & Accomplishments

Reed cosponsored the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure (CARD) Act, which President Obama signed into law, establishing fair and sensible rules for how and when credit card companies can raise interest rates.
Reed was a key supporter of "swipe fee" reform, helping to pass a law that prevents credit card companies and big banks from imposing billions of dollars in unfair hidden fees on consumers and small businesses each time a customer uses a debit card.
Reed helped close a loophole that prevented regulators from overseeing the shadowy over-the-counter derivatives market and bring greater accountability and transparency to this market. The new law requires that as many derivatives as possible now be traded on exchanges and cleared by clearinghouses. It also incorporates strong new rules Senator Reed championed to allow regulators to require to the public reporting of all swaps transactions, to enhance the transparency and stability in these markets.
Reed closed dangerous loopholes and gaps in financial oversight by requiring advisers to hedge funds and private equity funds to register with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

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