For example, in response to the financial turmoil beginning in 2007, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act in 2010 (Dodd-Frank Act; P.L. It then provides a brief overview of each federal financial regulatory agency. Finally, the report discusses other entities that play a role in financial regulation—interagency bodies, state regulators, and international standards. Resolution. Goals of Regulation

Financial regulation is primarily intended to achieve the following underlying policy outcomes:
Market Efficiency and Integrity . Capital Formation and Access to Credit . Illicit Activity Prevent ion . Taxpayer Protection. Financial regulation is to maintain financial stability through preventative and palliative measures that mitigate systemic risk. As a result, when taking any action, regulators balance the tradeoffs between their various goals. Types of Regulation

The types of regulation applied to market participants are diverse and vary by regulator, but can be clustered in a few categories for analytical ease:
Prudential . Disclosure is used to achieve the goals of consumer and investor protection, as well as market efficiency and integrity. Competition . The primary federal regulator for
national banks and thrifts (also known as savings and loans) is the OCC, their chartering authority; state-chartered banks that are members of the Federal Reserve System is the Federal Reserve; state-chartered thrifts and banks that are not members of the Federal Reserve System is the FDIC; foreign banks operating in the United States is the Fed or OCC, depending on the type; credit unions—if federally chartered or federally insured—is the National Credit Union Administration, which administers a deposit insurance fund separate from the FDIC's. Although these agencies are the banks' institution-based regulators, banks are also subject to CFPB regulation for consumer protection, and to the extent that banks are participants in securities or derivatives markets, those activities are also subject to regulation by the SEC and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (the CFTC). Regulatory jurisdiction over various aspects of the Treasury market is fragmented across multiple regulators. 110-289 , 122 Stat. Following another farming crisis, it was made an "arm's length" regulator with increased rulemaking, supervision, and enforcement powers by the Farm Credit Amendments Act of 1985 ( P.L. For example, the FCA regulates these institutions for safety and soundness, through capital requirements. Registration is another area where states play a role. Given the size and significance of the U.S. financial system, U.S. policymakers are generally viewed as playing a substantial role in setting these standards. There is significant overlap between the FSB's regulatory reform agenda and the Dodd-Frank Act. Changes to Regulatory Structure Since 2008
The Dodd-Frank Act of 2010 created four new federal entities related to financial regulation—the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC), Office of Financial Research (OFR), Federal Insurance Office (FIO), and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). The Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 (HERA) created the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) and eliminated the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO) and Federal Housing Finance Board (FHFB).
The financial regulatory system has been described as fragmented, with multiple overlapping regulators and a dual state-federal regulatory system. The system evolved piecemeal, punctuated by major changes in response to various historical financial crises. The most recent financial crisis also resulted in changes to the regulatory system through the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act in 2010 (Dodd-Frank Act; P.L. 111-203) and the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 (HERA; P.L. 110-289). To address the fragmented nature of the system, the Dodd-Frank Act created the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC), a council of regulators and experts chaired by the Treasury Secretary.
At the federal level, regulators can be clustered in the following areas:
Depository regulators—Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), and Federal Reserve for banks; and National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) for credit unions; Securities markets regulators—Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC); Government-sponsored enterprise (GSE) regulators—Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), created by HERA, and Farm Credit Administration (FCA); and Consumer protection regulator—Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), created by the Dodd-Frank Act.
These regulators regulate financial institutions, markets, and products using licensing, registration, rulemaking, supervisory, enforcement, and resolution powers.
Other entities that play a role in financial regulation are interagency bodies, state regulators, and international regulatory fora. Notably, federal regulators generally play a secondary role in insurance markets.
Financial regulation aims to achieve diverse goals, which vary from regulator to regulator:
market efficiency and integrity, consumer and investor protections, capital formation or access to credit, taxpayer protection, illicit activity prevention, and financial stability.
Policy debate revolves around the tradeoffs between these various goals. Different types of regulation—prudential (safety and soundness), disclosure, standard setting, competition, and price and rate regulations—are used to achieve these goals.
Many observers believe that the structure of the regulatory system influences regulatory outcomes. For that reason, there is ongoing congressional debate about the best way to structure the regulatory system. As background for that debate, this report provides an overview of the U.S. financial regulatory framework. It briefly describes each of the federal financial regulators and the types of institutions they supervise. It also discusses the other entities that play a role in financial regulation.