The Senate is poised to pass the most substantial bank regulatory relief since the crisis, but any disruption of the post-crisis regime is still eclipsed by how much the bill enshrines Dodd-Frank.
Democrats used a hearing with Fed Chair Jerome Powell to lay the groundwork for an intraparty debate over the merits of the Senate’s regulatory relief bill.
Continuing to pull back the reins on the aggressive approach taken under former Director Richard Cordray, the agency's new five-year plan values consumer choice over heavy-handed enforcement.
Three Trump administration nominees faced thorough questioning from the Senate Banking Committee, although Democrats reserved much of their fire for the president’s nominee to the Federal Reserve Board.
Comptroller of the Currency Joseph Otting blasted a letter from Senate Democrats criticizing his agency for not implementing recommendations on supervision in the wake of the Wells Fargo scandal.
Sen. Sherrod Brown called on the Trump administration to support the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's enforcement action against PHH Corp., which agreed to a $45 million settlement this week related to foreclosure abuses.
Over the past year, the focus of several banking policymakers has been how much the regulatory pendulum might swing back toward the industry’s liking. That theme will likely continue in 2018.
A regulatory relief package is likely to come out of the Senate in the new year, and lawmakers could follow it up with a housing finance reform push. But the midterm election could cause some reform initiatives to grind to a halt.
