Key Takeaways
- The Trump transition team is exploring a range of financial sector reforms, The Wall Street Journal reported, including shutting the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.
- Trump advisers have also also discussed plans to either combine or restructure the main federal bank regulators.
- Some of the ideas would require congressional action to enact.
President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team is exploring a range of financial sector reforms including shutting the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC), The Wall Street Journal reported.
According to the Journal’s report, Trump advisers and officials from his new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), the advisory group co-chaired by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, have in interviews with potential nominees to lead bank regulatory agencies asked whether the president-elect could abolish the watchdog.
Deposit insurance would then be absorbed into the Treasury Department, the Trump team has suggested to the FDIC and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) nominees. Closing the FDIC would require congressional action.
Trump advisers and potential nominees have also “discussed plans to either combine or otherwise restructure” the main federal bank regulators: the FDIC, the OCC and the Federal Reserve. The FDIC didn’t immediately respond to Investopedia’s request for comment.
Potential nominees for the FDIC role have interviewed with Treasury Secretary pick Scott Bessent and DOGE, the report said. Bessent, a veteran Wall Street executive, was picked by Trump last month and has promoted the President-elect’s economic agenda of tariffs, lower taxes, and reducing federal regulations.
Current FDIC Chair Martin Gruenberg, said last month that he would end his term on Jan. 19, one day before Trump’s inauguration.
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