The recently enacted Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (P.L. 111-203, § 342) contains sweeping new diversity requirements for federal agencies involved in the financial sector, as well as the businesses which deal with those agencies. Although the deadline for the creation of the new bureaucracy required by the Act is not until January 2011, and additional rules and standards will be developed later, businesses that will be affected by the new legislation need to begin educating themselves regarding its scope and requirements.

As for the application of the new diversity requirements, the legislation will apply to businesses which deal with a number of federal agencies involved in the financial sector, including the Departmental Offices of the Department of the Treasury, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, each of the Federal Reserve banks, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the National Credit Union Administration, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Securities Exchange Commission, and the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection.

A large number of businesses will likely be affected by the diversity legislation, because the legislation is intended to broadly apply to....

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