Regulatory relief

In President Trump’s first joint address to Congress, he listed several top priorities, including repealing Obamacare and enacting tax reform, but made no mention of reforming the Dodd-Frank Act.

Lawmakers voiced bipartisan support for regulatory relief, arguing that small financial institutions have had to bear the brunt of too many regulations.

In an exclusive American Banker poll, bankers see President Trump as a positive force for the financial services industry and are optimistic his administration can deliver on CFPB reform and simpler capital rules.

Congressional Republicans are weighing potentially broad changes to the stress test program, including alterations to the way the tests are performed and the consequences of failing them.

President Trump signed an executive order Friday requiring every agency to establish a task force focused on eliminating unnecessary regulations.

The new group, which will work alongside the bank’s lobbyists and focus on policy at U.S. and overseas regulators, is being run by Kevin Bailey, an alum of the OCC and GE Capital.

Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer, the chairman of the House financial institutions subcommittee, said Wednesday that he plans to reintroduce a bill that would change the way banks are designated as systemically important.

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Mike Crapo said Wednesday that although he plans to begin working on housing finance reform and changes to the Dodd-Frank Act, the poor relationship between Democrats and Republicans will hinder any progress.

Steven Mnuchin was confirmed 53-47 as Treasury secretary late Monday after two days of debate in which Democrats questioned the former banker's honesty.

Regional banks don’t pose risks to the financial system that have caused concern among policymakers, executives of 18 banks told top Republican and Democratic lawmakers in Congress.

Banks have spent years and billions of dollars to comply with post-crisis reforms. But with a new administration and Congress aiming to roll back the regulatory tide, whether those compliance costs go down is an open question.

The Federal Reserve Board should continue to focus on emerging systemic threats and work on exempting community banks from rules clearly aimed at larger institutions, said Fed Gov. Daniel Tarullo, who unexpectedly announced his pending departure Friday.

Instead of focusing on wanting deregulation, the industry should be driving home the credit union difference as the reason why CUs are worthy of special treatment.

Purported revisions to House Republicans' Dodd-Frank rollback bill raised immediate questions about the GOP's strategy, since the provisions — which were more extreme than when the bill was unveiled last year — promptly sparked Democratic opposition.

A House plan to provide regulatory relief will be more far-reaching when it is reintroduced soon by rendering the consumer protection agency toothless and providing banks with extra incentives to opt into a deregulatory plan.

The Consumer Bankers Association says the “whipsaw effect” of having a single director who can quickly tack the CFPB in one direction or another can make it challenging to plan out budget expenditures and determine which products and services they should invest in and offer.

In reality, the proposal to toughen bank capital requirements has appeal both for those who want to unwind the Dodd-Frank Act and regulatory hawks who want to keep banks in check.

The prospects for significant reform of the Dodd-Frank Act appear to be cratering as the political dynamic on Capitol Hill has quickly deteriorated in the wake of controversial executive orders by President Donald J. Trump.

President Donald Trump's plans to deregulate the financial services industry still lack detail, though Mastercard is betting on a more favorable legal environment in the future.

President Trump's order to eliminate two regulations for every new one does not apply to financial institution regulators, but may affect banks and credit unions in other ways.