Trump administration mulls bank regulator consolidation

The news: US President Donald Trump’s advisors are considering the consolidation of several US banking regulators without the involvement of Congress, according to sources cited by the Wall Street Journal.

The context: Recent discussions have focused on the possibility of collapsing the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) into the Treasury Department, as well as combining the FDIC’s regulatory responsibilities with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC). While it is unclear whether the administration will be able to execute consolidations without congressional support, significant streamlining is anticipated to be felt at banking regulators.

Trump’s administration is moving quickly with efforts to strip back financial regulation across the country. Acting head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) Russell Vought, shut down the CFPB offices and ordered staff to halt work over the weekend. The homepage of the CFPB website currently displays a superimposed image of a 404 error message, while the remainder of the site appears to be functioning. Reuters reports the CFPB has also begun firing staff, with termination letters sent to some probationary workers on Tuesday.

By Tuesday evening, Trump had installed Jonathan McKernan as CFPB head moving forward, and tapped former OCC official Jonathan Gould to run the OCC. WSJ sources say that both OCC and FDIC officials are expecting to hear from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) soon.