Will Donald Trump unleash Wall Street?
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Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. According to Jamie Dimon, chief executive of JPMorgan Chase and king of Wall Street, bankers were elated upon Donald Trump’s election victory. Many chafed under Joe Biden’s presidency, as mergers and bank fees faced additional scrutiny, and new capital-market rules came thick and fast.
Now, with the inauguration of Mr Trump imminent, American financiers will discover just how much cause they have for celebration. The industry will certainly experience an abrupt change in how it is overseen. America’s regulatory agencies will take a permissive approach in banking and beyond, with new priorities when enforcing securities laws.
Crypto is about to go truly mainstream. And looser rules could enable the consolidation of America’s banking system, home to a vast number of small and mid-sized lenders. The only danger, from Wall Street’s perspective, is that the Trump team’s MAGA instincts and chaotic approach prevent a deregulatory boom.
One appointment is emblematic of the coming shift. Gary Gensler, outgoing head of the Securities and Exchange Commission, annoyed Wall Street by demanding disclosures on pay and meddling with private-market funds. His replacement, Paul Atkins, served as an SEC commissioner under President George W.
Bush, and has been a critic of the agency’s approach to prosecuting suspected wrongdoers, which he believes favours quantity over quality. Instead, Mr Atkins prefers an “open jacket" method, in which the SEC presents defendants with its evidence up front. This, he believes, would speed up the process by pressing defendants to decide whether to settle cases or go to court.
So far, so typical for a Republican administration. But Mr Atkins comes with a twist. He is
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