After avoiding section 1033 of Dodd-Frank for 12 years, in October the CFPB announced proposals for action. Plaid now offers their advice.
President Trump is set to sign two executive actions on Friday that take aim at reversing the new financial regulations that were put in place as a result of the 2008 financial crisis; the executive actions will give the labor secretary power to rescind the fiduciary rule and ask the Treasury secretary and regulators to come up with a plan to replace Dodd-Frank; the fiduciary rule was set to go into effect in April and was meant to ensure advisors had their client's best interests at heart; Dodd-Frank was passed in 2010 and began implementation in 2012; the law was meant to limit the chance of another financial crisis like we saw in 2008; uncertainty exists with what will end up happening, but signals show that the fiduciary rule will be struck down and Dodd-Frank will be replaced. Source
The current market perspective is that banks aren't lending because of regulatory constraints; President Donald Trump even says that many of his friends in the business world would like to borrow money but can't because of regulatory restrictions; while market statistics show that banks are lending and have been doing so at an increasingly higher rate, it is true that there are constraints; however insight from the New York Times suggests that efforts to deregulate could be futile and that with lower capital requirements banks would instead prefer to use capital for increasing dividends and stock buybacks. Source
Dodd-Frank requires banks to disclose information about employee wages and the data shows a mixed bag for banks; banks like Goldman Sachs lie on the high end of the pay scale while small banks in locations like Houston are at the bottom of the spectrum; what the data also shows is banks are finding it hard to compete with big tech firms for talent as companies like Google, Facebook and Amazon tend to pay premium wages; wages overall look to be rising as lower skill, lower wage jobs are becoming less frequent across the industry. Source.
President Donald Trump has issued an executive order requiring the Treasury secretary and regulators to come up with a plan to overhaul Dodd-Frank and its over 400 regulations; the banking industry's tighter regulations have been a factor helping the success of marketplace lenders since the financial crisis and deregulation in the sector could create new challenges and increased competition for marketplace lenders; as the government begins to take deregulatory actions for traditional banks it also seems that marketplace lending has reached a phase likely to see increased regulations and involvement from regulators; these two forces along with other market factors could change the competitive landscape for the marketplace lending industry. Source
Representative Patrick McHenry says Dodd-Frank reform is not likely to make it to the House of Representatives until June or July; he is confident in major changes for the regulation from the House of Representatives however he foresees opposition from Senate democrats; in an interview with WSJ Pro Financial Regulation he also provided his insight on a range of regulatory aspects which could be integrated into legislation in various ways. Source
As former director Cordray left the CFPB last week he named an acting director to minimize operational disruption in his words; the White House on the other hand thinks he meant to provoke a response from the administration; the agency now is broiled in confusion over who is the true interim leader as the White House appointed their own interim leader; Mr. Cordray is working off of language in the Dodd-Frank Act to appoint a successor, while the White House is acting on the Federal Vacancies Reform Act that gives the President authority to appoint interim leaders; each leader will have a different mandate and the confusion will need to be cleared up soon. Source.
Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan says that the big bank point of view of Dodd-Frank is that the law is fine; he explained that none of the big banks are trying to touch the law and it has made the financial system safer; small banks have been pushing to roll back some of the regulations associated with Dodd-Frank because they feel it is too burdensome; the interview at the Economic Club of Washington also touches on fintech, blockchain and other bank related issues. Source.
The focus of the weekly update centered around how the Trump administration will try to ease the regulatory environment for banks and an explanation of the risk retention rule that recently went into effect; banks welcomed the executive orders signed by Trump, the regulatory burden has been high and cost of capital has continued to rise to meet the demands of Dodd-Frank; as of December 24, 2016 all asset types are required to adhere to a 5% risk retention requirement or skin in the game; this is meant to align investor interests with sponsor interests and make the securitization deal safer; PeerIQ goes into a detailed explanation and helps to provide answers to some of the questions surrounding the rule's implementation. Source
Congressman Patrick McHenry and Congressman Jeb Hensarling have both released comments supporting President Donald Trump's executive order on Dodd-Frank; the executive order on Dodd-Frank signed on Friday outlines core principles for regulating the United States financial system and asks the Treasury secretary and regulators to come up with a plan for replacing Dodd-Frank; Congressman Jeb Hensarling has proposed the Financial Choice Act to overhaul Dodd-Frank; if new policies are enacted it would ease lending requirements for banks making credit more available for consumers and small businesses from mainstream financial institutions. Source