The Dodd-Frank financial reform bill, which was yesterday passed by the US Senate and is to be enshrined into law imminently by President Barack Obama, is set to unleash the biggest wave of new federal financial rule-making in three generations. US lawyers Davis, Polk & Wardwell - who needed more than 150 pages just to summarise the provisions of the reform to their clients - have estimated the bill will require no fewer than 243 new formal rule-makings by 11 different federal agencies.

US regulator the Securities and Exchange Commission alone will write 95 new rules (see table above), while new bodies the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection and the Financial Stability Oversight Council will issue 24 and 56 each.