Georgia’s banking industry was ravaged by the financial crisis, with more than 90 banks shut down in its wake. Most had bet too heavily on real estate.
Joe Brannen, president of the Georgia Bankers Association, said the industry does not expect quick action on unwinding Dodd-Frank, the financial reform act spawned by the crisis. It was intended to prevent a repeat but has been criticized as too onerous.
“From what we’ve heard, none of this banking regulation is (expected to change) in the first 100 days or even the first 200 days” of Trump’s administration, Brannen said. He predicted Congress will be busy vetting cabinet members and other top managers at financial agencies for months to come.
Ultimately, Brannen said, lawmakers and Trump’s Treasury Secretary pick, Steve Mnuchin, probably won’t try to tear up Dodd-Frank. The financial industry has spent years and millions of dollars changing operations and hiring staff to meet its requirements.
“We’ve had it now for six years,” he said. “We’ve begun to figure it out.”
Brannen expects the Trump administration and lawmakers to focus on parts of the law that have brought the most objections. Some of those areas, he said, include the so-called “Volker rule” that limits banks’ trading on Wall Street, and raising banks’ asset size limits that require then to hold bigger capital reserves, or buffers against losses.
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