Regulation

The president-elect could take aim at the Federal Reserve's ties to Wall Street, bailout authority and other reforms if he really means to take steps to help working people.

Bankers are anxiously waiting to see who President-elect Donald Trump will pick as the next Treasury secretary. Several prominent names have been floated for the job, though with every passing day, a new possible choice seems to pop up. Following is a look at the current crop of candidates and their chances.

The election results will only intensify factors making competition with bank lenders more difficult, including the effect of interest rates as well as the regulatory environment.

Payday lenders are seeking a court injunction to stop what they say is a concerted effort by federal banking regulators to cut them off from the mainstream financial system.

James Cope, a former Pinnacle Financial Partners director who pleaded guilty to insider trading in October, was supposed to pay a $55,000 fine as part of a plea deal. But the judge hearing the case contends he should pay more.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency's decision to raise conforming loan limits in 2016 for the first time in a decade is being met with enthusiasm from the mortgage industry, as it should prove to be a positive for future origination volume.

The Pennsylvania company has redoubled its outreach to low- and moderate-income consumers by partnering with Operation Hope on a down payment assistance program and naming a veteran banker to the newly created post of director of fair and responsible banking. But despite these efforts, history says Fulton is unlikely to escape punishment if the Justice Department finds that it violated fair-lending laws.

The U.S. is expected to receive bad marks over its supervision of certain high-risk nonfinancial institutions, like lawyers, casinos and real estate agents, for potential anti-money-laundering problems in an upcoming evaluation by the Financial Action Task Force.

The Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank was already under pressure to replace outgoing president Dennis Lockhart with a person of color – preferably the first African-American to head a Fed bank. But the election of Donald Trump has compounded the importance of the pick.

Hopes are high among bankers that soon-to-be President Donald Trump and the new Congress will quickly lower the corporate tax rate. But a tax overhaul might benefit community banks and small regionals more than larger banks, especially those reliant on tax strategies that might be less meaningful in a new system.