ABSTRACT
On July 21, 2010, US President Barack Obama signed the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act into law, including major consumer protection provisions which fundamentally changed the regulatory landscape for financial services. Before the Dodd-Frank Act went into effect, the rulemaking authority to implement federal consumer financial protection laws was largely held by the Federal Reserve System. Regulatory reform emerged in a post-crisis environment which saw the legitimacy of the financial industry and its practices being strongly contested in the public sphere. Under public pressure, policy-makers' reluctance to engage with the financial industry in the aftermath of the crisis was accompanied by increased receptivity to pro-reform demands from diffuse interest groups. Another development that bolstered the influence of diffuse interest groups was their ability to forge coalitions among themselves. The perception of opened-up political opportunities after the subprime mortgage crisis was an important trigger for collective action among diffuse interest groups.
