The mid-term elections turned Barney Frank into the most important and powerful legislators in the US. As chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, his views carry some weight.

His perspectives on the future of Sarbanes-Oxley, and other key issues including litigation and the subprime lending meltdown are canvassed on this four-part video interview with with CNBC's Mary Thompson.

You can also read snippets of the interview on the link.

Frank here talks about winding back the reach of Sarbanes-Oxley, particularly for the banks. He reckons the banks have a legitimate case because they are already subject to other legislative controls.

On the subprime mess, he talks about bringing in limitations on how much the private sector can lend people who can't afford to pay the money back. But bringing in controls, he says, is not the same as abolition.