Trump’s Deregulation Agenda: 4 Things For City Attys To Know

Bruce Bennett is quoted in a Law360 article providing tips for British banks under the Trump Administration’s approach to financial reform. Commenting on the full repeal of Dodd-Frank, Bennett says, “[it] would be very difficult for a variety of reasons.” He adds, “Our sense is, in the overall hierarchy of priorities the new president has, this isn’t at the top.”

Also commenting on changes coming to the Volcker Rule, Bennett states, “Asking senior execs at the largest banks if they could choose between Congress dialing back Volcker or regulatory capital, they would vote for regulatory capital in a heartbeat.” He continues, “They have already built out Volcker compliance, they jettisoned businesses that didn’t comply, so it’s not as if they can flip a switch and go back.”

Discussing attitudes towards Basel III, Bennett says that in some aspects the EU implementation of Basel III favored EU financial institutions more than the U.S. approach. “There were components of the U.S. rule that were more stringent,” Bennett says. “There were complaints by the larger U.S. banks that this disparity in fact created advantages for European Union banks.”