(Reuters) – U.S. bank stocks showed little reaction to a report that President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team was planning to severely shrink or eliminate top banking regulators as Wall Street does not expect such a move to receive the required political backing.
Trump advisers and officials from the newly founded Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) have considered potentially eliminating the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp (FDIC), the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter.
Restructuring the major federal regulatory agencies would be a very complex task, ING sector strategist Marine Leleux said.
“…It would require congressional action and despite the Republican party majority in both the Senate and the House, it would require support from the Democrats which remains very unlikely,” Leleux said.
Advisers have asked the nominees under consideration for the FDIC if the absorption of the agency into the Treasury Department could be possible, the WSJ reported.
U.S. banking stocks JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Citigroup, Bank of America, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs fell less than 1%.
Top U.S. banking executives expect Trump’s incoming administration to adopt pro-growth policies while doing away with regulations regarded by some as onerous.
“Regulators will likely replace or ease banking regulation that was implemented under the Biden era,” Stephens analyst Terry McEvoy said. “A Republican led Senate Banking Committee will likely play a role in some of these changes.”
The FDIC plays a key role in the financial stability of the world’s largest economy with its deposit insurance fund backstopping trillions in insured bank deposits.
The string of regional bank failures last year created instability in the banking industry and added tens of billions in losses to the agency’s deposit insurance fund.
“It is truly outrageous if he is serious about eliminating the FDIC. It is the only regulatory entity whose professionals have the expertise and ability to do bank resolutions,” said Mayra Rodriguez Valladares, bank and capital markets risk consultant at MRV Associates.
(Reporting by Arasu Kannagi Basil and Jaiveer Shekhawat in Bengaluru and Matt Tracy in Washington; Editing by Noor Zainab Hussain and Anil D’Silva)
