The US Senate approved a sweeping Wall Street reform bill on Thursday night, capping months of wrangling over the biggest overhaul of financial regulation since the Great Depression of the 1930s.
By a vote of 59 to 39, the Senate awarded a victory to President Barack Obama, a champion of tighter rules for banks and capital markets after a 2007-2009 financial crisis that slammed the economy and led to massive taxpayer bailouts.
The Senate bill must now be merged with a measure approved in December by the US House of Representatives.
Only then could a final package go to Mr Obama to be signed into law, something that analysts said may happen next month — or possibly by July 4, America’s independence day.
Changes proposed in both bills — driven by legislators eager to look tough on Wall Street ahead of mid-term congressional elections in November — threaten to constrain the banking industry and reduce its profits for years to come.
Mr Obama said the final version of the bill will hold financial firms accountable but not stifle the free market. “Over the last year, the financial industry has repeatedly tried to end this reform with hordes of lobbyists and millions of dollars in ads, and when they couldn’t kill it they tried to water it down ... Today, I think it’s fair to say these efforts have failed,” Mr Obama said.
“We’ve still go some work to do,” he added. “The House and the Senate will have to iron out the differences. And there’s no doubt that the financial industry and their lobbyists will keep on fighting.”
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average slid 3.6 per cent on Thursday.
—Reuters