Since taking office, President Donald Trump is making good on his campaign promise to push for deregulation.
Trump has already said that he wants to cut all regulation by 75%, and he followed that by signing an executive order that stated that for each new regulation issued by the government, two older regulations must be eliminated.
Then, the president signed another executive order that begins the process of rolling back some (if not all) of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act.
Additionally, Trump recently selected a new leader for one of the government’s top financial regulators, nominating top Wall Street lawyer Jay Clayton to serve as the chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission.
But what does Clayton think about the current state of financial regulations? The Wall Street Journal dug into Clayton’s background to get a feel for where he might take the SEC during his tenure.
The WSJ article also details how Clayton became Trump’s choice to the lead the SEC.
From the article:
In late November, Jay Clayton was called by a longtime client seeking advice for how the Trump administration should tackle scaling back rules on Wall Street.
Mr. Clayton, a partner at Sullivan & Cromwell LLP who has represented Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., dashed off an email explaining how government could promote growth by easing what he considered unnecessary regulations on raising capital, according to a person familiar with the matter. The correspondence was shared with Trump advisers, who were impressed and asked if there might be a position that would interest him. Mr. Clayton replied: “SEC chairman.”
Shortly after a late-December meeting with then-President-elect Donald Trump in Mar-a-Lago, Fla., he was offered the job.
As for what Clayton might do at the SEC, an associate of Clayton’s suggests that he might move the SEC away from its recent “enforcement bent.”
Again from the WSJ:
He “gets big corporations and the need for raising capital,” said Robert Evans III, a partner at Shearman & Sterling LLP who has known Mr. Clayton through legal circles. “It’s a welcome change from having somebody with an enforcement bent running the commission.”
For more on Clayton, click here or below.
