The US Senate finally passed the Wall St Reform Bill, otherwise known as the Dodd-Frank Bill, on Thursday. The bill was passed on a vote of 60 to 39, yet earlier in the week it seemed that the vote may not even take place as Democrats worried that they again did not have the numbers.While reporting better than expected Q2 results on the day, JP Morgan Chase & Co., the largest derivative trader in the US, said the Bill will impact its revenues, margins and volumes but it will not change its business model. The Bill will be signed into law by President Obama this week. To recap the key provisions of the bill are:• US banks will be able to keep most of their swap dealing activities in-house but swap and derivative dealing associated with agriculture, equity, energy, metals, and uncleared credit default swaps will have to be undertaken via an affiliate.• Banks will be allowed to invest in hedge funds and private equity but such investments cannot exceed three per cent of their tier one capital. • Banks will have to adhere to higher capital standards which will see hybrid instruments excluded from tier one capital.• A Financial Oversight Committee will be established to identify and act on systemic risks.• The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp will create a protocol for dismantling troubled financial institutions with such activity being funded by Treasury.• A new financial consumer regulator will be established.• The SEC is to undertake a two year study to determine the most appropriate method to deal with the conflict of interest that exists for credit rating agencies undertaking structured finance ratings. If no alternative methodology is identified, the SEC must create a board charged with assigning CRAs to structured finance rating assignments. • Credit ratings agencies will face new liability standards for ratings assigned.• Shareholders of financial institutions will gain a no-binding vote on executive remuneration and the Federal Reserve is to set standards on excessive compensation.The requirement for a levy on financial institutions with assets of more than US$50 billion and hedge funds with assets of more than US$10 billion to pay for the costs of the bill was scrapped in the House of Representatives vote at the end of June.