Trump promises 'major haircut' for Dodd-Frank banking regulations
US President Donald Trump has vowed to introduce major reforms to the Dodd-Frank banking regulations in the US, which were introduced in the aftermath of the global financial crisis in 2008.
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The Republican has said previously that he would provide more freedom for banks to lend money in order to create more jobs in the country.
The Dodd-Frank laws were passed in 2010 to stop banks from acquiring disproportionate risk, after several major investment banks had to be bailed out by the government.
"We're going to do a very major haircut on Dodd-Frank," Trump told a meeting of business leaders in Washington.
"We want strong restrictions, we want strong regulation. But not regulation that makes it impossible for the banks to loan to people that are going to create jobs,"
The Dodd-Frank laws were brought in in 2010 in order to stop banks from acquiring disproportionate risk
Any changes to the current regulations are likely to face heavy scrutiny from a hostile Republican-controlled Congress, as evidenced by Trump’s failure to push through his healthcare reforms last month.
"We're going to be doing things that are going to be very good for the banking industry so that the banks can loan money to people who need it,” Trump added.
Another defeat for the administration could affect US banking stocks, with the majority of Wall Street banks having said they are in favour of de-regulation.
In an annual letter to investors, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon wrote that "the lack of economic growth and opportunity has led to deep and understandable frustration among so many Americans."
Of the Dodd-Frank regulations in particular, Dimon said that they were "unnecessarily complex, costly and sometimes confusing".
"We need coherent, consistent, comprehensive and coordinated policies that help fix these problems," the JPMorgan chief added.
Since Donald Trump’s victory over Hillary Clinton in November of last year, banking shares have driven the major indices in the New York Stock Exchange to record highs on the hopes of more favourable laws for financial institutions.