Blue Congress, Red Regulators: 5 FinReg Predictions

Randy Benjenk was quoted in a Law360 article examining how the midterm election results and Democratic control of Congress could reshape the outlook for financial services oversight during the remainder of President Trump’s term.

More aggressive congressional oversight could slow the Trump administration’s efforts to streamline the bank merger review process and encourage new bank chartering through faster, more predictable application decisions at the federal banking agencies.

According to Randy, one potential issue is agency bandwidth. Democratic oversight requests and investigations could require banking agencies to reallocate staff and resources, potentially slowing application processing.

"Some delays could arise if agency resources, particularly in Legal and the front office, are pulled toward other priorities such as oversight," Randy said.

Democratic inquiries could also prompt agencies to take a more cautious approach to merger and charter applications that may attract political scrutiny, including by taking additional steps to document and justify their decisions. According to Randy, that increased scrutiny could also contribute to delays.