Romney Calls Dodd-Frank \'Unnecessary\'

LONDON - After a day made long by his remarks about London's readiness for the Olympic Games, found a friendlier audience here on Thursday night at fund-raisers heavily populated with American financiers, donors representing an industry that has had troubles of its own.

Mr. Romney held a fund-raising reception and a more exclusive dinner here on Thursday that included some of the top American financiers working in London. The firms they represent run the gamut from private equity funds, hedge funds and big investment banks like Goldman Sachs and J. P. Morgan - all of which have substantial business hubs in London's financial district.

In his remarks at the high-cost event at the Mandarin Oriental in Hyde Park, Mr. Romney steered clear of the scandal over interest rates, opening his comments by describing the relationship between the United States and Britain (“special”) and praising the sights of London (“inspiring”).

But at the end, Mr. Romney fielded several questions from the audience. The first asked Mr. Romney where he stood on reforming the banking system.

“There's no question but that regulations are essential to the functioning of markets,” he said, repeating a view he has mentioned on the campaign trail. “Of course, you have to have laws and regulations to make free markets able to produce and to be effective. But you have to make the regulations modern and up-to-date.”

Mr. Romney then launched into an attack on the Dodd-Frank financial regulatory law, calling it “unnecessary” and “overly burdensome.”

“With regard to regulation here in the U.K., I've got nothing to say about what goes on here, but back in the U.S., I want us to stay highly competitive, the financial capital of the world,” he concluded. “At the same time, I want to make sure that we protect the citizens in the nation and have rules that people can rely upon.”

Among those writing the biggest checks will be the chairmen of the dinner event, where the price of entry was $25,000 to $75,000 per head: Louis Bacon, a hedge fund billionaire and founder of Moore Capital Management, who splits time between New York and London; Karl Peterson, who heads European operations for the Texas Pacific Group, a private equity firm; and Dwight Poler, a managing director in Europe for Bain Capital, Mr. Romney's former private equity firm.

Co-chairmen included Steven Chasan, another executive from Moore Capital Management, and Eric Varvel, the chief executive of Credit Suisse's investment bank.

Mr. Romney picked a precarious time to visit London's financial community. British, European and American banks here are under close scrutiny from regulators on both sides of the ocean for their attempts to manipulate key interest rates.

So far Barclays, Britain's third largest bank, has been at the scandal's forefront, and the bank's former chief executive, Robert E. Diamond Jr., withdrew his name from Thursday's event after he was forced to resign from the bank. Patrick Durkin, a senior lobbyist for Barclays in Washington who has raised more than $1 million for Mr. Romney, remained a co-chairman.

The rate-rigging scandal has set off a vocal anti-banker backlash here, with everyone from the governor of the central bank to David Cameron, Britain's conservative prime minister, weighing in on how badly bankers have behaved. Eleven members of Parliament even recently signed a resolution that named Mr. Romney and called for Barclays executives to “cease fund-raising for political candidates.”

Accusations that HSBC, Europe's largest bank, which is also headquartered in London, engaged in money laundering practices and the fact that most of J. P. Morgan's derivatives trading losses originated here have not helped the city's financial reputation either.

But the malaise is broader than that. The euro zone debt crisis and a lingering in Britain have sharply curbed core banking operations like lending, trading and deal-making, and many companies with large investment-banking operations here, like Deutsche Bank, are contemplating deeper job cuts as profits sag.

Nevertheless, even though this year should see a significant bonus reduction for most in the banking world, Mr. Romney's visit has prompted many to reach for their checkbooks. Indeed, while many bankers here accept that banker conduct must improve, they worry that the push for more regulation and higher taxes - not to mention the public attacks on their profession, both here and in the United States - has gone too far.

In Mr. Romney, given his ties to the industry and his tax-cutting promises, they have found a person they can back with enthusiasm.

And for all of the news about the Libor scandal, an attendee at the reception said that the controversy was merely “background noise” for those in the ornate ballroom - replete with crystal chandeliers and gold paneling and filigree.

According to the campaign, roughly 250 people attended the event, which was expected to bring in at least $2 million.

And, in a nod to Britain, Mr. Romney's guests dined on fish and chips, passed around in paper cones.

“It was the most expensive halibut in town,” said one person who attended the more exclusive dinner, adding that Mr. Romney upheld the challenger's tradition of not criticizing the president while on foreign ground and had a positive view of getting America back to work.

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: July 26, 2012

An earlier version of this article misstated the amount of money the Romney reception was expected to raise. It is at least $2 million.