Banking

On Monday, May 1^st, President Trump spoke to representatives from the Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA), committing to cut the ‘red tape’ imposed by the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial regulatory law. His repeal promises were met with a great deal of excitement from the community bankers present, in part because of the reminder that the number of federally insured small banks dropped from 7,357 in 2011 to 5,980 in 2016—at least in part because of the regulation.[1] ICBA representatives including CEO Cam Fine reiterated the general tone, saying that community banks face a “pressing need for regulatory relief.”[2]

Saturday (April 29) marks the 100^th day of the Trump Presidency. The benchmark has historically been used to review promises made and kept, as well as where progress has occurred and where it is yet to happen. For community banks and the small businesses and individuals they support, four markers are of particular importance—small business lending, mortgage rates, interest rate risk, and regulations. Let’s look at all four to get a sense of where the country is, and where we may be headed in the second half of 2017.

With changes to tax regulations on the horizon, bank leaders should be thinking about how they are managing financial strategies. It’s likely that you are. Close to 74% of U.S.-based CFOs believe President Trump's principal focus should be corporate tax reform. [1]  And it is. The White House says tax reform is a major piece of their policy agenda.

From the earliest days of the election cycle, tax reform has been a consistent topic of focus. During campaigning, all of the Republican candidates recommended reductions to personal and corporate income taxes. Now-President Trump's was the most aggressive. He proposed bringing the corporate income tax rate down to 15%.

Bank leaders have been asking this question since Donald Trump surprised the nation by winning the election on November 8.

For years, increasing regulations has been the predominant theme for banks. With this unforeseen national shift, we find ourselves looking at the very real possibility of deregulation—and soon. Case in point, on December 1, the House passed a bill that would eliminate the $50B SIFI threshold, replacing it with more qualitative measures. Although this only impacts a few of the country’s largest banks, it is an encouraging sign of things to come. 

At approximately 2:30 a.m. EST Wednesday, Donald Trump took a conciliatory call from Hillary Clinton and began his speech to accept the position as the 45^th President of the United States of America.

This morning, across the country, people woke to the news and a gnawing feeling in the pit of their stomach. Regardless of which candidate got our vote and whether we are feeling a sense of victory or defeat, we all share two questions—what does this mean and what is ahead for us? The reality is that we can’t know until we’re able to look back in hindsight.

Amid the many other differences between presidential nominees Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, the two have proposed very different tax law changes. As opposed to trying to make sense of the many subjective differences between the candidates, understanding how each candidate could impact tax policy may be the best way for businesses and individuals to compose an informed plan for the future.