US banks ‘in go-mode’ under Trump, says JPMorgan executive

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With U.S. banks “in the beginning of go-mode” and the “animal spirits alive,” according to a senior JPMorgan Chase executive, Wall Street is betting that a lighter-touch regulatory regime under President Donald Trump will spur the world’s biggest business deals. the economy

Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Tuesday, Mary Erdos, head of wealth and asset management at the Wall Street lender, said it was “hopeful” that Trump’s regulatory approach would boost growth. The US economyUndoing some of the burdens placed on the banking industry by Joe Biden’s administration.

“If you look at the last administration and the number of new, significant regulations, it was eight times the number of significant new regulations than the previous Trump administration,” said Erdos, who is seen as a contender to succeed. Jamie Dimon at JPMorgan.

“With that comes millions of man hours of paperwork. Work . . . that bogs down the system and keeps the economy from continuing that very healthy flywheel. So we’re really looking forward to that.”

Erdos’ comments come as European banking executives worry that a lighter-touch regulatory approach by Trump could put European banks at a competitive disadvantage if the continent’s regulators demand stricter enforcement of rules such as Basel 3.1.

Speaking at the same panel on Tuesday, Bill Winters, chief executive of Standard Chartered, said it was important that the rules were “timely set globally, so that we don’t have this arbitrage from market to market”.

While Europe may find it difficult to hold back on some regulations, the UK may lean heavily towards the US system, according to a senior banking executive.

“The UK government will be at the forefront of deregulation,” the executive said. “They have delayed the implementation of Basel III to see how it is implemented in the US.”

Meanwhile, JPMorgan’s Erdoes said lighter regulation in the US could lead to more dealmaking and companies going public. “Companies don’t want to go public or can’t go public because of the heavy regulatory burden, and hopefully you’ll see that. [change]” she said.

He added that JP Morgan had set up a “war room” to analyze and evaluate Trump’s executive orders overnight and praised the US president’s decision to ban remote work for federal employees. This month, JPMorgan said all employees would be required to return to the office five days a week starting in March.

“Time will tell but there will be a lot of things you want to do for the enterprise environment,” says Erdos. “Thank God the U.S. government has done this, and hopefully it will put us ahead of other governments around the world so we can continue to compete.”