"Obama Officials Work Against Time to Wrap Banking Rules"
U.S. officials are striving to put finishing touches on a slew of banking rules before President Barack Obama leaves office and hands regulatory power to Donald Trump who has vowed to rewrite the existing financial rule book.
President-elect Trump will take over on Jan. 20 and his fellow Republicans will have control of Congress and government agencies, allowing the new administration to block or roll back many of the last-minute changes.
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Some rules are meant to flesh out the Dodd Frank Act of 2010 designed to prevent the next global financial crisis. Trump campaigned on a pledge to scrap the law but now he says only some provisions must go to lighten the regulatory burden.
The Federal Reserve is working on rules to govern matters such as executive pay, market stability and what investments Wall Street may hold. … The SEC and bank regulators have also for years struggled to finalize a rule that would tie more banker pay to the long-term health of their firms rather than short-term performance of Wall Street firms.
The New York Times article is here.
"Americans could lose this important consumer watchdog under Donald Trump"
President-elect Donald Trump says he would “dismantle” Dodd-Frank, the legislation that gave birth to the federal consumer watchdog. And his election, combined with the Republican sweep in Congress, gives leverage to the lawmakers and financial groups looking to rein in the independent agency’s powers.
The unfriendly environment in Washington is coming just weeks after the CFPB was dealt another major blow. Last month, a federal appeals court ruled that the agency must be restructured so that the director could be removed at will, marking a major win for Republicans and industry groups looking to limit the independence of the agency.
The agency is widely expected to appeal the ruling, but it’s not clear whether that move would be enough to keep Trump from replacing CFPB director Richard Cordray once Trump takes office. This week, amid growing worries about the future of the CFPB, Cordray sent an email to his staff urging them to focus on the work ahead.
The Washington Post article is here.
