Barack Obama, the US President, on Wednesday signed the Dodd-Frank Act into law, bringing the legislative process, marked by partisan wrangling and last-minute compromise, to a close.

At the signing ceremony, Obama acknowledged that lawmakers had had to overcome "furious lobbying" and a "partisan minority determined to block change," in pushing the bill through. "These reforms represent the strongest consumer financial protections in history," Obama said. "And these protections will be enforced