Trump in bid to unshackle banks

President Donald Trump will order a sweeping review of the DoddFrank Act rules that were enacted in response to the 2008 financial crisis to protect consumers, a White House official says.

He signed an executive action on Friday designed to significantly scale back the system put in place in 2010.

Trump will also halt another of former president Barack Obama’s regulations, hated by the financial industry, requiring advisers on retirement accounts to work in the best interests of their clients.

Taken together, the actions are designed to lay down the Trump administration’s approach to financial markets, with an emphasis on “removing regulatory burdens”, said the White House official who asked to remain unidentified.

But Trump’s plans will face criticism from Democrats, who claim he intends undoing changes designed to protect everything, from average investors to the global banking system.

He also could face a backlash from some of his own supporters, whose distrust of the financial industry helped fuel the populist anger that propelled Trump to the White House.

Last Monday, Trump promised to do “a big number” on the DoddFrank Act that had damaged the country’s “entrepreneurial spirit” and limited access to credit.

“Regulation has actually been horrible for big business, but it’s been worse for small business,” the president said. “Dodd-Frank is a disaster.”

Trump’s Treasury secretary nominee, Steven Mnuchin, will recommend what changes the administration should take, focusing on the Volcker Rule that limits speculative bets banks make with their own funds. – Bloomberg