washington<u+2014>financial regulators are scrambling to complete a series of unfinished rules designed to rein in wall street, dismaying congressional republicans and some business groups that have urged policy makers not to rush new regulations as president barack obama <u+2019>s term winds down. the government<u+2019>s consumer finance watchdog is pushing to finish a contentious measure that could make it harder for financial firms to force consumers into mandatory arbitration . the federal reserve and the securities and exchange commission could each wrap up postcrisis measures that would force banks and swaps dealers to add to their books costly new buffers protecting against big losses during periods of market distress. the sec also wants to limit risky derivatives in mutual funds sold to the public , while a fellow market regulator wants to adopt new curbs on speculation in oil, gold and other commodities. other high-profile measures are in doubt. mr. obama has for two years pushed a committee of agencies to complete limits on executive compensation , aimed at curbing wall street risk-taking. the six agencies required to write the rules are racing to complete them but may run out of time before the change in administration, according to regulatory officials. the efforts to complete the rules before president-elect donald trump takes office on jan. 20 buck calls from republicans who want the agencies to wait, even on noncontroversial measures required by the 2010 dodd-frank financial overhaul, until the new administration takes over. <u+201c>this type of <u+2019>midnight<u+00a0>rulemaking<u+2019> is neither conducive to sound policy nor consistent with principles of democratic accountability,<u+201d> texas rep. jeb hensarling, chairman of the house financial services committee, told sec chairman mary jo white at a nov. 15 hearing. mr. hensarling is reportedly under consideration to serve as mr. trump<u+2019>s treasury secretary . regulators deny they are rushing to finish initiatives ahead of the transfer of power and<u+00a0>say they are merely working through their normal process to finish rules that were targeted for completion this year. ms. white, who plans to leave the agency in january ,<u+00a0>told lawmakers she is<u+00a0>finishing rules she had long publicly described as top priorities. before mr. trump<u+2019>s surprise win earlier this month, some financial firms and their lobbying groups backed the regulators<u+2019> efforts to complete their work. at the time, these groups assumed a victorious hillary clinton, under pressure from progressive democrats like massachusetts sen. elizabeth warren, would adopt a more adversarial approach to wall street oversight than the obama administration. with mr. trump<u+2019>s victory, however, they anticipate policy makers who favor a lighter regulatory touch will be appointed. a pause <u+201c>would probably provide more stability, knowing trump is going to come in and make changes,<u+201d> said alison hawkins, spokeswoman for big-bank trade group the financial services roundtable. once mr. trump is sworn in, he could, as his predecessors had done, impose a moratorium on new rules while ordering agency heads to withdraw any obama administration action that hadn<u+2019>t yet been published in the federal register. most rules can<u+2019>t take effect until a certain time after their publication in the register, which generally occurs within a week after regulations are completed. after rules are published, it can be time-consuming for future administrations to try to unravel them. they have to follow the administrative procedure act, which requires an extensive public-comment process, and changes may be subject to legal challenge. republican lawmakers are now talking about dusting off the little-used congressional review act , which would allow them to try to uproot any regulation completed after may 2016 if they can get a majority vote in each chamber on the question before mid-2017. at the consumer financial protection bureau, richard cordray, the agency<u+2019>s director, has instructed staff to continue moving ahead with rulemaking at its current rapid pace, according to people familiar with the situation.<u+00a0>that means the cfpb will try to complete its major pending rules, particularly the<u+00a0>proposal to restrict arbitration clauses in consumer financial contracts. the cfpb on nov. 17 launched the process that could lead to the creation of a new rule that would pressure banks to make consumer account data available to competing financial service providers , signaling that the election hasn<u+2019>t dissuaded mr. cordray from pursuing his ambitious agenda to alter the balance of power between banks and their customers. other big-ticket rules probably won<u+2019>t make it to the finish line by the end of the obama<u+00a0>administration.<u+00a0>at the commodity futures trading commission, officials say they won<u+2019>t be able to complete rules designed to boost oversight of rapid-fire traders . that is a victory for high-frequency trading firms that objected to a proposed requirement to grant cftc officials access to the firms<u+2019> proprietary source code without a subpoena. that provision could disappear under new republican leadership next year. similarly, the<u+00a0>cfpb may run out of time to complete rules designed to rein in the high-interest, small-dollar payday lenders that cater to about 12 million americans. the fed has yet to complete several technical, yet significant, rules affecting big banks that officials view as crucial to preventing future bailouts and completing the implementation of dodd-frank. among them, a change to the central bank<u+2019>s annual <u+201c>stress tests<u+201d> for big banks that would make the tests harder. it is unclear whether the fed could complete those rules under the trump administration. <u+2014>ryan tracy and yuka hayashi contributed to this article. write to andrew ackerman at andrew.ackerman@wsj.com
financial regulators scramble to complete postcrisis rules  - wsj
andrew ackerman