IANS | 25 May, 2018
US President Donald Trump signed into law on Thursday a bill that
partially repeals the 2010 Dodd-Frank act, which imposed tighter
financial regulations in response to the global financial meltdown of
2008.
"The legislation I'm signing today rolls back the crippling
Dodd-Frank regulations that are crushing community banks and credit
unions nationwide," Efe quoted Trump as saying after again calling the
Dodd-Frank bill "a disaster".
The President was joined for the
signing ceremony by Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, Vice President
Mike Pence, and lawmakers, including some Democrats who broke with their
party to vote for the new bill.
Dodd-Frank reinforced capital
requirements for banks, obliged large financial institutions to undergo
annual stress tests and reduced the ability of banks to fund high-risk
investments with their clients' deposits.
The bill signed into
law by Trump softens some of Dodd-Frank's restrictions for smaller banks
and financial firms by increasing from $50 billion to $250 billion the
amount of assets needed for a bank to be subject to more regulations.
While
supporters of the bill said their aim was to help smaller institutions
such as community banks, the effect will be to limit the application of
Dodd-Frank regulatory standards to just 13 US banks.
