Banking regulations being rolled back

It has been 10 years since the Great Recession began to take hold, and this week, the U.S. Senate is poised to vote on rolling back the 2010 Dodd-Frank banking-regulations law that created limits on how banks could speculate in the markets, minimum requirements for how much money they set aside, and protections for borrowers.

Banks, especially smaller ones, have complained that Dodd-Frank has meant higher costs that result in to less lending, especially to small businesses. It has contributed to a reduction in the number banks. In 2010, there were over 6,500 FDIC-insured commercial banks. By last year, that had fallen by 25 percent.

The new bill would ease mortgage lending by not requiring smaller banks to consider a borrower’s ability to repay the money. It would raise the threshold for a bank to be considered “too big to fail” and thus subject to annual financial stress tests by the Federal Reserve. The bill also would ease appraisal rules for certain mortgages.

Bipartisan supporters say the legislative reaction to the Great Recession treated all banks the same, regardless of size and business. The prospect of a rollback has contributed to a big jump in banking stocks since the 2016 election. If banks and their shareholders profit from the new rules, it would be rewarding if the economy does, too.

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