Interest groups have been preparing for months. When the Consumer Bankers Association convened its annual meeting in early June, there was still plenty of time to lobby Congress. But the group’s president, Richard Hunt, told his board that the group should shift its focus to the rule-making process. The board voted to increase the group’s budget and staff.
“Now we hope to have a good give and take with the regulators on the best interests of the consumer and the industry,” said Mr. Hunt.
The real test for financial legislation is not whether it gets through Congress but how it's applied by federal agencies, and the industry operatives will be busy "working with" those agencies.
... Brett P. Barragate, a partner in the financial institutions practice at the law firm Jones Day, estimated that Congress had fixed in place no more than 25 percent of the details of that vast expansion. “Congress is doing this in broad strokes,” said Scott Talbott, a lobbyist for the Financial Services Roundtable. “Where the rubber meets the road is the regulatory process.”...NYT
