Biden fires an early warning shot at Wall Street
Elizabeth Warren’s fingerprints are all over the Biden transition, much to Wall Street’s dismay.
President-elect Joe Biden’s agency review teams include several people who share Warren’s reputation for being tough on the financial industry.
It’s more evidence of the influence of Warren, a fierce opponent of big banks and the excesses of Wall Street — as well as an early signal that Wall Street will be under much greater scrutiny, especially compared to four years of President Donald Trump’s efforts to dismantle regulation and unshackle big banks.
“The big-bank CEOs who read that list are probably somewhat concerned,” said Isaac Boltansky, director of policy research at Compass Point Research & Trading. “Progressives absolutely won the day on this.”
Biden tapped about 500 people to work with government agencies, from the CIA to the United States Postal Service, and help shape the future of government policy and appointments.
Perhaps top on Wall Street’s worry list is Gary Gensler, who will lead the team working with financial regulatory agencies including the Federal Reserve, SEC and FDIC. Gensler led the Commodity Futures Trading Commission from May 2009 to January 2014.
Among the Obama-era regulators, Gensler was the most aggressive in implementing the Dodd-Frank financial reform law that Wall Street opposed. [Continue reading…]