Less Regulated, Non-bank Lenders? Never Heard of ‘Em

Recently, two journalists for the Wall Street Journal sat down with Senator Chris Dodd and former Congressman Barney Frank to ask their thoughts about the Dodd Frank Act five years later.

The WSJ asked Frank specifically, “Do you have concerns that Dodd-Frank rules are driving more activity into the shadow banking system (less-regulated, nonbank lenders), sowing the seeds for a future crisis?”

The response…

Frank: “What activity? The law gives the regulators the power to regulate. When people tell you that activity has been moved to the shadow banking system, ask them what activity because I don’t know exactly what they’re talking about.”

One has to wonder what the awareness level was then when the Dodd Frank lawmakers drafted up Section 1071 to expand the Equal Credit Opportunity Act.

Meanwhile, Frank told me personally last year in a walking one-on-one in NYC that he supported transparency in business loan transactions, such that the borrower should be easily able to identify the terms. The premise behind consumer loan protections was that consumers were less sophisticated, he said. He also that he was not in favor of a federal cap on business loan interest rates.

Sean Murray is the President and Chief Editor of deBanked and the founder of the Broker Fair Conference. Connect with me on LinkedIn or follow me on twitter. You can view all future deBanked events here.