Lobbying Battles

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Less than two years ago, politicians were vowing that tough new financial regulations would be brought in, to make sure the cataclysm which hit the global economy could never happen again. Now comes the crunch point. In the US, the measure called the Dodd Frank Bill is nearing the end of the process of congressional approval. It's been called 'the most comprehensive rewrite of financial rules since the Great Depression'. The derivatives industry has been active in lobbying to adjust the new law which would force some of its complex financial instruments to be traded on exchanges. Lesley Curwen talked to one of the pioneers who created the derivatives market in the early 1980s, Conrad Voldstad, who is now chief executive of the International Swaps and Derivatives Association. Plus, Dave Levinthal from the non-partisan US think-tank, the Centre for Responsive Politics, describes how lobbying money is spent. And the BBC's Economics Editor, Stephanie Flanders, explains everything you always wanted to know but were afraid to ask about the eurozone crisis.