Last week, President Barack Obama signed the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, which overhauls the financial industry. Bank depositors will get more insurance, and mutual fund investors may pay lower fees in new regulatory developments. The $250,000 limit on federal deposit insurance will become permanent (it had previously been set to expire after 2013). The law attempts to catch up to a financial system that has sped ahead of outdated regulation and slackened rules that allowed banks, traders and others to take increased risks.

But one provision of the law reduces the fees merchants pay when consumers swipe their debit or credit cards. Banks and credit unions are unhappy with it, saying it reduces the industry's annual revenue by billions of dollars.

Some say consumers could have to pay new fees, such as a monthly fee for checking. But such impact remains to be seen, as bankers and market regulators have up to two years to write new regulations required by law.

As Robin Gohman put it, the "wrastling has just started." She is senior vice president of Liberty Savings Bank.

Local bank and financial industry leaders said they haven't had time to review all 2,300 pages of the new law. But at first peek, they recognized the intent and saw some things they liked.

"On the surface, it's kind of a mixed bag," said John Herges, president of Falcon National Bank.

He likes the provision that says regulators will now assess banks on assets instead of domestic deposits. The Independent Community Bankers of America says this will reduce assessment rates by one-third and save community banks $4.5 billion during the next three years.

Herges says the bill isn't as bad as it could have been. But he's concerned with what this will mean for his staff, which already carries a heavy workload to comply with industry regulation.

"I mean, it's scary," Herges said. "This is a banking business that already has so many regulations. There are so many hoops to jump through. To have more on top of it is pretty scary."

"... I can tell you one thing, it's not going to make it easier to get a loan. It's just more rules and regulations. But long term, ... I can guarantee you it's not going to be helpful. I think it will overall just cause us to have to do more by the way of monitoring regulation," Herges said.

Gohman also had mixed feelings about the bill.

"Our feeling on it is the strong and well-managed banks will adapt to it," Gohman said.

Brian Myres, head of sales for online bank ING Direct, said it is prepared for any costs. Overall, though, the bank approves of the new legislation, he said.

He particularly likes that consumers can now get free credit scores. He also likes the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

"We feel that's a positive to protect consumers from unethical practices," Myres said.

With the reduction in fees that retailers pay for consumers' credit card use come other changes. Businesss can decide to put a minimum of no more than $10 for card transactions. And they can now give customers a discount for using cash.

Bill Winter, CEO of St. Cloud Federal Credit Union, strongly disagrees with these changes. He said retailers used to pay other costs, not just fees when consumers use cards.

"Merchants have forgotten about losses they used to take from bad checks and the like," he said.

This change "is going to cost us money," he said.

"Ultimately, the consumer is going to end up paying for that, in some way, shape or form," he said.

Winter said he hopes not to resort to charging customers for checking accounts or other fees. Herges and Gohman said the same thing.

The new law doesn't fix the too-big-to-fail problem, said Rich MacDonald, assistant professor of economics at St. Cloud State University and co-author of the St. Cloud Area Quarterly Business Report.

The law increases standards for capital and liquidity standards for the largest financial institutions, and creates a systemic risk council for those companies.

"It's a sweeping piece of reform, it seems to me," he said, adding that it's not clear what regulatory approaches will be taken.

He thinks it's not the size of the institution, but the complexity and interconnectedness, that creates systemic risk.

Overall, MacDonald says he's not sure any legislation can protect consumers better than their own knowledge.

"I just think consumers ought to protect themselves by being well-educated and making good judgments," he said. "We've created a situation where people don't have necessary economic financial literacy in a somewhat complex environment. Improving education would go a long way, it seems."

Gohman suggested the new laws could add jobs to Central Minnesota, creating an opportunity for businesses that support the financial services industry.

Gohman and Herges think time will tell how businesses will respond.

"It will be a while until we know what the impact is going to be," Herges said.

Winter put it differently:

"We know that we're going to be affected adversely," he said. "What we don't know is how badly."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.