My research and writing on the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act has so far focused more on specific compliance components, such as “say on pay” and clawback policies. OpenPages Vice President Gordon Burnes regularly huddles with chief risk officers and CFOs at client companies in the financial services sector to keep tabs on the risks that concern them. While Dodd-Frank applies to all companies, firms in the financial services sector have been closely watching the new regulation ever since its inception. Here’s what Burnes had to say about the new law’s likely impact — from a big-picture perspective as well as a financial services standpoint.

Eric Krell: Who gains and who loses in Dodd-Frank?

Gordon Burnes: You might argue that it is a win for those that have advocated greater regulation over the financial services sector (e.g., consumers and businesses) and a loss for those financial services companies that have resisted that greater regulatory oversight. Indeed, the creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau as part of the Federal Reserve will be a powerful advocate for consumers. However, it’s not that simple. First, there’s much rulemaking to ensue from the passage of the legislation, which means that the financial services industry will be able help shape and influence any future regulation that results from the bill. Second, one of the key aspects of banking regulation is capital. Dodd-Frank was careful not to proscribe anything that would contravene the Basel III process, and that process appears to be favorable to banks; the recent capital requirements resulting from the Basel III process sent bank stocks up, not down. Third, some have argued that greater regulation will bring stability to the financial services sector, which in turn will spur investment as businesses get more confident in the economic outlook. And, of course, this investment will benefit the banks themselves. So, in some ways, it’s too soon to tell who wins and who loses: this may be a win-win. more

Today, on this 6-month anniversary of the signing of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, a number of the reform’s key provisions impacting insurance companies begin taking effect.

In my last post, I shared with you some comments from Edward Bonach, CFO of CNO Financial Group Inc. of Carmel, Ind. I found Bonach’s perspective rather refreshing in light of what might be called his “glass-is-half-filled” outlook on the new reforms. It is not exactly what you expect to hear these days from an insurer’s finance leader. Then again, CNO Financial appears to be unique in a number of ways. more

If it seems like your customers remain a bit laggard when it comes to paying their bills, you’re not alone. The July 2010 Business Benchmark Report from Experian, the most recent available, reveals a slight jump in payment times, as well as an increase in the average amount delinquent.

In fact, several measures examined in the study deteriorated over the past six months. For starters, the national average days-beyond-terms crept up from 6.3 in February to 6.5 in July. Along those lines, the average percent of dollars delinquent rose from 12.2 to 12.7 percent over the same time period. And, the percent of funds more than three months overdue rose by an even greater margin, from 5.3 to 5.8 percent between February and July. more

While OpenPages Vice President Gordon Burnes was responding to questions I sent him regarding noteworthy regulatory changes, his company experienced a noteworthy ownership change: Last week, IBM announced plans to acquire the privately held risk management software firm.

I asked Burnes for a quick briefing on the acquisition before he finished responding to my Dodd-Frank questions (which I will post later this week).

Eric Krell: Why IBM? more