Six years after Dodd-Frank’s passage, private equity firms are now lobbying Congress to undo some of the recent requirements — and the House of Representatives appears poised to do so, the New York Times reported today. The House is scheduled today to vote on the Investment Advisers Modernization Act of 2016, a bill championed by the private equity industry’s trade group. The bill would maintain important components of Dodd-Frank — there would still be federal exams of private equity firms, which manage money for pension funds and other large investors. Yet it represents a significant challenge for Dodd-Frank’s staunchest supporters, who denounced the new bill for, among other things, loosening the requirements on what information the industry must report to regulators about the nature of its investments. Read more.
In related news, the House Financial Services Committee next week will begin its markup of the Republican plan to roll back the 2010 Dodd-Frank law, according to a committee announcement, MorningConsult.com reported yesterday. The Tuesday markup will be the beginning of an effort to “debate the Financial CHOICE Act, consider possible amendments and vote on the legislation,” the announcement said. A discussion draft of the law that Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) rolled out over the summer is almost 500 pages and contains provisions most Democrats oppose. Jeff Emerson, a spokesman for the committee, told Morning Consult that the panel is holding open the possibility that the markup could last longer than one day. Hensarling has not yet formally introduced the CHOICE Act, and Emerson said the legislative text “is being finalized now.” Read more.
