Warren vows to fight Trump ‘every step of the way’ on dismantling Dodd-Frank

The end of Dodd-Frank could be a boon to big insurers – but one of the Senate’s most prominent Democrats has vowed that the act won’t go down without a fight

Insurance News

By Ryan Smith

One of President-elect Donald Trump’s key campaign promises was to “dismantle” the controversial Dodd-Frank Act. It’s a promise that got many in the insurance industry on Trump’s side, as the business community has long maintained that Dodd-Frank places undue burdens on businesses.

One of Dodd-Frank’s most contentious effects has been the creation of “systemically important financial institutions”, or SIFIs. Three insurers – Prudential, AIG and MetLife – were designated SIFIs, and have chafed at the stringent capital standards and stress testing the designation requires. If Trump has his way, that could go by the wayside.

But one of the driving forces behind Dodd-Frank and the architect of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, said the act isn’t going down without a fight.

Warren (D-Mass.) said in a blog post that she’s prepared to work with Trump if he intends to “increase the security of middle-class families.”

“But let’s also be clear about what rebuilding our economy does not mean,” she said. “It does not mean handing the keys to our economy over to Wall Street so they can run it for themselves. Americans want to hold the big banks accountable.”

That’s not going to happen, Warren said, if the government guts Dodd-Frank.

“If Trump and the Republican Party try to turn loose the big banks and financial institutions so they can once again gamble with our economy and bring it all crashing down, then we will fight them every step of the way,” she said.

Warren acknowledged that the election showed an America ready for change.

“Regardless of political party, working families are disgusted by a Washington that works for the rich and powerful and leaves everyone else behind,” she said. “The American people have called out loudly for economic and political reform.”

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