Banks hopeful as conservatives sweep US elections

摘要

Celebration in the financial services industry over the shift in political power in the US Senate may be short-lived as the reality sinks in that the "anti-regulation" majority achieved last Tuesday was not big enough to effect substantive change. Six years into the administration of President Barack Obama control of the Senate shifted from Democrats to Republicans, eroding the last vestiges of the power dynamic that pushed through the Dodd-Frank financial reform act in 2010. But while many banks would love to tear up large swathes of Dodd-Frank it is simply not on the cards. "You still have divided government," said Francis Creighton, executive vice-president of governmental affairs at the Financial Services Roundtable. "You still need 60 votes in the Senate and you still need the president's signature." Republicans added seven seats in the election taking control of 52 of 100 seats. The American Bankers Association was also restrained in its hopes that the election outcome would mean significant change.