U.S. Agencies May Spend $1 Billion to Initiate Dodd-Frank Act

The Dodd-Frank financial-regulation law may require the federal government to spend almost $1 billion and hire or transfer more than 2,000 employees in the months ahead, according to the Government Accountability Office.

The 11 agencies implementing the law, including the Treasury Department, Federal Reserve and Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., told the GAO they would need as much as $973 million to establish the new rules. The agencies, which provided the GAO with their Dodd-Frank-related costs for either the 2011 calendar year or for fiscal 2012, said that most of the expense would be recurring, according to a GAO slide presentation sent to U.S. House Republicans and obtained by Bloomberg News.

Taxpayers are likely to bear only part of the implementation costs. While three of the 11 agencies are at least partly funded by congressional appropriations, six are funded fully or partly by assessments on industry, one fully by federal budget offsets and one, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, by transfers from the Federal Reserve.

The consumer bureau, which has been targeted by Republicans for structural changes and funding cuts, may require $329 million in fiscal 2012 and more than 883 new employees, the GAO said.

Republicans requested the GAO report in advance of a Financial Services subcommittee hearing on Dodd-Frank this week. Republican lawmakers have proposed several changes to the law, which was enacted last year when Democrats held majorities in the House and Senate. Democrats still control the Senate and White House.