Full statement here

Americans for Financial Reform appreciates the opportunity to provide a Statement for the Record for the House Financial Services Committee hearing on “Dodd-Frank Turns 15: Lessons Learned and the Road Ahead.” The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank) was put in place to address the massive, systemic failures that led to the global financial crisis that had devastating impacts on millions of families. The root of these failures was decades of deregulation that allowed for dangerous recklessness, speculation, and abusive practices in the financial industry. Congress passed Dodd-Frank to reduce the likelihood and severity of future financial crises and to protect people from financial predation and it has made a difference. Dodd-Frank was a restrained response to a devastating set of failures of legislative decision making and regulatory and corporate governance failures. Congress and financial regulators should be building on the pieces it put in place, not rolling them back.