How do we say Regulatory Capture!

Bloomberg-

It had been two days since U.S. lawmakers negotiated all night to finish rules that would reshape the business of Wall Street. The 20-hour session left legislators, aides, lobbyists and regulators exhausted. Almost no one had a grip on all the details.

Then Annette Nazareth stepped in. That Sunday morning, she e-mailed a dozen Securities and Exchange Commission officials about the bill that would become the 2,300-page Dodd-Frank Act.

Nazareth, herself a former SEC commissioner, represents the biggest banks and securities firms as a partner in the Washington office of Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP. She attached an annotated copy of the measure to her June 27, 2010, e-mail, marking changes made during the wee hours. It could be an invaluable tool for an agency hard-pressed to analyze the bill on a tight deadline.

“In case you would find it helpful,” Nazareth wrote to the group, many of them ex-colleagues.

Two hours later, SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro responded: “Thanks. We have our work cut out for us.”

[BLOOMBERG]

image: pubcit.typepad.com

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