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Obama signs biggest financial regulatory overhaul in generations
Jul 21, 2010, 16:55 GMT
Washington - President Barack Obama on Wednesday signed into law the most sweeping overhaul of the US financial system since the Great Depression of the 1930s, capping a year-long effort to fix regulatory gaps that helped plunge the globe into crisis in late 2008.
The signing marked a major domestic political victory for Obama, who said the landmark legislation would prevent another financial collapse, end taxpayer-funded bank bailouts and refocus attention on the plight of ordinary consumers.
The reforms aim to learn the lessons from the 2008 financial crisis that was 'born of a failure of responsibility from certain corners of Wall Street to the halls of power in Washington,' Obama said at a ceremony in Washington's Ronald Reagan Building.
The new law extends the government's watch into virtually all corners of the financial sector, including hedge funds and derivatives markets, and provides new powers for authorities to step into failing financial firms to help avoid an industry-wide collapse.
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