Trump begins attack on financial regulations with signing of two executive orders
President Donald Trump. Evan El-Amin / Shutterstock, Inc.
President Donald Trump on Friday signed two executive orders as part of his campaign to loosen financial regulations affecting banks and investment advisers.
One executive order aimed at the Dodd-Frank law asks the Treasury Secretary to review regulations affecting financial institutions, report USA Today, the New York Times DealBook blog and the Washington Post. The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act was passed after the 2008 financial crisis, and it was intended to bolster banks’ ability to withstand financial turbulence.
“While the president cannot unwind Dodd-Frank with the stroke of a pen,” DealBook reports, “his orders set the tone for the regulatory agencies enforcing the rules, including the Securities and Exchange Commission. And the orders, which Democrats and consumer groups immediately denounced as gifts to the Wall Street companies that ignited the 2008 crisis, could portend even more executive actions that direct the regulators to halt financial regulation.”
A second executive order asks the Secretary of Labor to delay implementation of the so-called fiduciary rule that requires financial advisers to act in their clients’ best interests—rather than seeking the highest profits for themselves—when dispensing retirement advice.
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