by Calculated Risk on 3/01/2010 07:32:00 PM

Binyamin Appelbaum, at the WaPo, reports that Senators Dodd and Corker (Tenn) are nearing a deal to give authority for financial consumer protection to the Federal Reserve.

Uh, wasn't the Fed already responsible for consumer financial protection?

More from the WSJ: Senators Outline Plan to Create New Consumer-Protection Unit Within the Fed

The division would be led by a White House appointee, have the ability to write and enforce rules, and have a separate budget. It would also give the Fed a more direct mandate to focus on consumer-protection issues.

This could dramatically reshape the focus of the Federal Reserve. For years, it has primarily been focused on monetary policy over bank supervision and often made consumer protection an afterthought.

The WSJ also reports that the Senators are near an agreement on a dissolution process for large failing non-bank financial companies, This would include wiping out the shareholders, and requiring other creditors to take losses ... the details will be interesting.