Four top federal regulators ― including two Democrats ― urged the Federal Reserve last month to weaken a key post-crisis rule limiting risk-taking at the nation’s six largest banks. Regulators impose leverage requirements in order to reduce the amount of borrowed money banks can put into play. Wall Street’s advocates in Washington typically point to the assistance that deregulation will provide to small banks, or blame federal regulators for problems instead of the banks they oversee. Trump Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin endorsed a plan to lower leverage requirements for big banks in 2017. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell and Vice Chair Randall Quarles approved of reducing leverage requirements last year, while Lael Brainard, an Obama appointee, did not.

Source: Huffington Post March 19, 2019 17:48 UTC