In this version the Fed would be a super regulator with responsibilities for consumer protection, the largest systemic institutions and monetary policy.
For much of his time at Yale, Dr. Wheeler was also on the staff of the Russell Sage Foundation, directing programs that trained students in the emerging field of what is called interdisciplinary law and society scholarship — the study of the impact of legal decisions on social institutions, like examining whether consumer protection laws actually protect consumers.
Jane Azia, the director of nondepository institutions and consumer protection for the State Banking Department, says that because New York's housing market includes a heavy mix of multifamily units, the protections for tenants are especially meaningful.
Last week, Senator Sherrod Brown, the Ohio Democrat who leads the Senate Banking subcommittee on financial institutions and consumer protection, held a hearing on how to shield Main Street from what he calls megabank risk.
"Any Fed chairman would bristle at the idea they were a partner with a president," Senator Bob Corker, the Tennessee Republican who serves on the Senate Banking subcommittee on financial institutions and consumer protection, told me this week.
In addition, these lenders are not currently subject to the same consumer protection regulations as traditional financial institutions.
The bill extended regulation in a number of ways: consumer protection, higher capital standards for major institutions, greater transparency for complex financial instruments.
Flatly contesting Mr. Geithner's recommendation on the new consumer agency, she added, "Federal banking agencies should retain the authority to examine and supervise insured institutions for both consumer protection compliance and safety and soundness".
The Fed is charged with writing rules on consumer protection that apply to all financial institutions, but it has no legal authority to enforce those rules in organisations it does not oversee.
The legislation tackles derivatives, consumer protection, "too big to fail" financial institutions, and the credit rating agencies, among other issues.
