Barney Frank, the sharp-tongued former US congressman who championed financial reform and forged unlikely cross-Atlantic alliances, has died at 86. Tributes from Westminster underscore his unique role as a bridge between Washington and London, particularly during the 2008 financial crisis. Frank, a Democrat from Massachusetts, chaired the House Financial Services Committee and co-sponsored the Dodd-Frank Act, a regulatory overhaul that sent shudders through the City of London.
Yet his blunt pragmatism earned respect across the aisle and the Atlantic. 'He understood that markets need rules, not hand-waving,' said a former UK Treasury official. Frank's death marks the end of an era when financial regulation was a transatlantic conversation, not a shouting match.
