Pub. 6 2016-2017 Issue 4

6 O V E R A C E N T U R Y : B U I L D I N G B E T T E R B A N K S - H E L P I N G C O L O R A D A N S R E A L I Z E D R E A M S A Word From CBA... NEW POLITICAL CLIMATE FOR BANKS The dust is still settling after a hard-fought and often nasty campaign and it remains to be seen howquickly President-elect Trump and his team – which is still being formed – will be able to mend the fractured political parties. Friction is likely between Trump and both parties over appointments, the bud- get, investigations, as well as and fights with Democrats over taxes, regulatory burden and immigration. That said, significant decisions are unlikely in the lame duck session of Congress, including on our priority issue, regulatory relief. New efforts can be launched next year, and bipartisan reforms are possible. That will require stressing customer impact, innovative formation of coalitions and hard work by banking advocates. While Republicans control both houses, Democratic opposition, especially by Sen. Elizabeth Warren and others, will frustrate some regulatory reform and other efforts. President-elect Trump’s decision to embrace the reinstate - ment of the Glass-Steagall Act appears to have cast him as the champion of community banks. His campaign said, “It is not just about community banks, it is about who really un- derstands local communities. Community banks are critical to small business.” But the Democratic platform also called for restoring Glass-Steagall, and Clinton joined calls to grant regulatory relief for small institutions. The Trump campaign characterized Clinton as the candidate of the big banks. Beyond calling for a repeal of Dodd-Frank, Trump himself has not engaged substantively on financial issues. Embracing Glass-Stegall still leaves Trump’s other banking views unclear, and there may be a downside to reinstating Glass-Steagall for community banks; some feel that large banks would be focused solely on commercial banking providingmore competition, but that could restore some acquisitions. Based on the Trump campaign’s positions, it is possible Administration efforts could include: remove power from the Fed and permit Congressional audits of its decisions, whole or partial repeal of DFA, abolition of CFPB, end TBTF and bailouts, temporarily freeze all agency rules. Banking ap- pointments will include OCC inMar 2017, FDIC ChairmanNov 2017, Fed Chairman Feb 2018, and CFPB Director July 2018. 2 016 has closed with a bang. The banking industry has some renewed hope with the GOP trouncing that went beyond the election of political upstart Donald Trump. His election is unique and GOP re- tention of Congress, as wel l as pickups in governors and state legislatures is dramatic. His success in traditional- ly Democrat states amounted to voters’ rebuke of Clinton, Obama, business as usual and the political establishment.