The Dodd-Frank Act at 5: Examining Progress and Pushback

Jul 21, 2015 | Naki B. Mendoza
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Birthdays are often cause for celebration, yet cheers for Tuesday’s fifth anniversary of the historic Dodd-Frank Act have been somewhat tempered and reserved.

Since officially being inked into U.S. law on July 21, 2010, as the most sweeping set of financial reforms since the Great Depression, the landmark bill’s efforts to promote good governance in developing countries have indeed contributed to considerable progress.

Its calls for greater transparency into the procurement of mining supplies have spawned robust partnerships between government and civil society to monitor industry value chains. And its intent to require extractive industry companies to publicly report their payments to foreign governments has set off a wave of transparency efforts around the world. Today more than 30 countries have similar laws on their books, including one that recently entered into force in Canada.