Trump kills CFPB arbitration rule; Blockchain MIA

Receiving Wide Coverage ...
No more suspense: President Trump is expected to nominate Federal Reserve Governor Jerome Powell to head the central bank, replacing Janet Yellen, whose term ends in February. The formal announcement is expected at 3 p.m.

Powell’s nomination is “likely to combine continuity on interest-rate policy with perhaps a lighter touch on financial regulation,” the Wall Street Journal says. “In his five years at the Fed, Mr. Powell has been a reliable ally of Ms. Yellen and would likely continue the Fed’s current cautious approach to reversing the central bank’s crisis-era stimulus policies as the economy expands.” Wall Street Journal here and here, Financial Times, New York Times

Wall Street Journal
Repealed: Surrounded by the heads of the American Bankers Association, the Consumer Bankers Association and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, President Trump signed a bill repealing the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s rule that would make it easier for consumers to sue banks rather than go through arbitration.

“Thankfully, we now have a Congress and a president who understand that more complicated and excessive regulations are the last thing our economy needs,” said Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee.

What's blockchain?: Lots of stories have been written about how blockchain will transform the banking industry. Apparently, executives who oversee technology in the financial services sector haven’t read those stories. According to a survey by Gartner Inc., the “much-hyped digital ledger” didn’t crack the top 10 list of priorities among bank chief information officers. “Compared to those in other industries, these CIOs appear to be far more concerned with beefing up existing systems with analytics, cloud services and other applications,” the paper says.

Financial Times
Staying put: Barclays CEO Jes Staley reaffirmed the bank’s commitment to keeping its capital markets business in London following Brexit. Although there will be “a number of challenges faced by the U.K. on the back of the Brexit vote, I do believe that London will remain the financial center for Europe,” Staley said at a conference. “Capital markets are in London not because of Barclays, not because of JPMorgan, not because of Goldman Sachs, they are here because the investors are by and large located in New York and London, and we want to be near our investors.”

Barclays CEO Jes Staley
James "Jes" Staley, chief executive officer of JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s investment bank, speaks during an interview in New York, U.S., on Monday, Dec. 19, 2011. JPMorgan Chase & Co. still views U.S. Treasuries as the world's safest asset and expects that view to continue, Staley said. Photographer: Scott Eells/Bloomberg *** Local Caption *** James "Jes" Staley

Separately, Barclays’ head of security, Troels Oerting, has taken an indefinite leave of absence from the bank. A senior official said it was unrelated to the investigation into whether Staley had tried to uncover the identity of a whistleblower at the bank.

Quotable
“This action tips the scales of justice in favor of Wall Street banks less than ten years after they caused the financial crisis.” — CFPB Director Richard Cordray, responding to President Trump’s signing a bill that kills an agency rule that prohibits mandatory arbitration of customer disputes.

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Blockchain Arbitration Donald Trump Jerome Powell Federal Reserve FOMC CFPB
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