In many ways it’s too early to gauge how FinReg will impact the banks in the long run, let alone the U.S. economy and ordinary Americans. But it looks like the consumer protection agency may be a game-changer. Banks have relied on hidden fees for a long time to prop up their profits, so that easy money will likely be reduced in the future.

Meredith Whitney was on CNBC the other day, and she remains skeptical of bank profits with the passage of the new law, and the disturbing fact that the banks still need time to remove toxic assets from their books.