Key members of the Senate have agreed on a proposal to trim the number of banks overseen by enhanced Dodd-Frank regulations. The proposal unwinds parts of the recession-era financial reform bill, but it doesn’t go as far as a similar House bill.
According to a summary of the bill, the threshold for which a bank would be required to undergo stress tests would increase sharply. For banks with $100 billion – $250 billion in assets, it would be up to regulators to determine whether or not to test for financial soundness.
Marcus Stanley, with Americans for Financial Reform, says, “It sort of opens the door to the new Trump appointees to weaken the rules if they want to. And we know they want to.”
The summary does not say what will happen to the "Too Big To Fail" banks. However, raising the threshold eases regulations for scores of regional banks which often complain that excessive paperwork deprived small businesses of loans.
