President Trump signed another Executive Order today. This time it was targeting financial regulations and the growing morass of regulation that has been piled upon the electorate. In a televised presser, President Trump signed the order on “Core Principles for Regulating the United States Financial System.” There was also an executive order delaying the Department of Labors costly fiduciary rule
In recent years, Congress has slipped into a lazy rule upon regulation approach to guarding financial services and markets. Perhaps best exemplified by the excesses created under Dodd-Frank, the financial industry has become one where only the largest entities can manage the compliance challenges ladled upon them. While the US may be the top financial market in the world, policy makers have placed this dominance at risk by blindly assessing mandates and glibly assigning rules – a cost that is inevitably born by consumers and, most pointedly, small business.
An inside the beltway type commented on this Executive Order saying;
“It is hard to argue with this.”
Congressman McHenry stated;
“..these two actions illustrate Congress and the Trump Administration’s strong commitment to ensuring long-term financial security for American families and small businesses.”
The Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee has a Dodd-Frank replacement ready to go. Expect to see this one progress through the House and then onto the Senate quite quickly.
Presidential Executive Order on Core Principles for Regulating the United States Financial System
EXECUTIVE ORDER
– – – – – – –
CORE PRINCIPLES FOR REGULATING
THE UNITED STATES FINANCIAL SYSTEM
By the power vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered as follows:
Section 1. Policy. It shall be the policy of my Administration to regulate the United States financial system in a manner consistent with the following principles of regulation, which shall be known as the Core Principles:
(a) empower Americans to make independent financial decisions and informed choices in the marketplace, save for retirement, and build individual wealth;
(b) prevent taxpayer-funded bailouts;
(c) foster economic growth and vibrant financial markets through more rigorous regulatory impact analysis that addresses systemic risk and market failures, such as moral hazard and information asymmetry;
(d) enable American companies to be competitive with foreign firms in domestic and foreign markets;
(e) advance American interests in international financial regulatory negotiations and meetings;
(g) restore public accountability within Federal financial regulatory agencies and rationalize the Federal financial regulatory framework.
Sec. 2. Directive to the Secretary of the Treasury. The Secretary of the Treasury shall consult with the heads of the member agencies of the Financial Stability Oversight Council and shall report to the President within 120 days of the date of this order (and periodically thereafter) on the extent to which existing laws, treaties, regulations, guidance, reporting and recordkeeping requirements, and other Government policies promote the Core Principles and what actions have been taken, and are currently being taken, to promote and support the Core Principles. That report, and all subsequent reports, shall identify any laws, treaties, regulations, guidance, reporting and recordkeeping requirements, and other Government policies that inhibit Federal regulation of the United States financial system in a manner consistent with the Core Principles.
Sec. 3. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:
(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or the head thereof; or
(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.
(b) This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.
(c) This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.
DONALD J. TRUMP
THE WHITE HOUSE,
February 3, 2017.