2016 presidential candidates on Wall Street and banking policy
 Date: November 8, 2016 |
Winner: Donald Trump (R) Hillary Clinton (D) • Jill Stein (G) • Gary Johnson (L) • Vice presidential candidates |
Important dates • Nominating process • Ballotpedia's 2016 Battleground Poll • Polls • Debates • Presidential election by state • Ratings and scorecards |
2024 • 2020 • 2016 Have you subscribed yet?
Join the hundreds of thousands of readers trusting Ballotpedia to keep them up to date with the latest political news. Sign up for the Daily Brew.
|
This page was current as of the 2016 election.
The regulation of the banking industry became a central issue in the 2008 presidential election after financial services firm Lehman Brothers declared bankruptcy just seven weeks before election day.[1] Following "Black Monday," a day of volatile trading in global markets on August 24, 2015, the country's attention returned to the regulation of banks and other financial institutions in the 2016 presidential election.[2][3]
Given the increased opposition to establishment candidates during the 2016 election cycle, the relationship between politicians and Wall Street also came under scrutiny.[4] Hillary Clinton, for example, earned more than $2.9 million between 2013 and 2015 from speaking engagements for Wall Street banks and other financial firms. This was a point that Bernie Sanders, Clinton's Democratic primary challenger, highlighted in his criticism of her policies.[5][6][7]
With both policy and politics guiding the discussion, see what the 2016 presidential candidates and their respective party platforms said about Wall Street and banking policy below.
| OVERVIEW OF CANDIDATE POSITIONS | |
Democratic ticket
Hillary Clinton
- On September 20, 2016, Hillary Clinton published an open letter to customers of Wells Fargo to condemn the bank's illegal account openings. She wrote that to address "this kind of outrageous behavior," the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau must be preserved. She continued, "Executives should be held individually accountable when rampant illegal activity happens on their watch. Their compensation should take a hit if their companies pay major fines. And they must face appropriate legal consequences if they break the law."[8]
- In a conference call with small business owners on August 22, 2016, Clinton commented on how financial regulations affect community banks and credit unions, saying that regulations enacted by the Obama administration were “primarily aimed at the big banks on Wall Street” and that smaller financial institutions “face complex regulations that don’t really make sense for their size or their mission.”[9]
- Following the release of a letter from 11 Democratic U.S. senators and 116 U.S. House Democrats to Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen on May 12, 2016, calling for more diversity in the organization, Clinton’s presidential campaign released a statement regarding Clinton’s vision for the Fed. Spokesman Jesse Ferguson said that “Secretary Clinton believes that the Fed needs to be more representative of America as a whole as well as that commonsense reforms — like getting bankers off the boards of regional Federal Reserve banks — are long overdue.” He continued, “Secretary Clinton will also defend the Fed’s so-called dual mandate — the legal requirement that it focus on full employment as well as inflation — and will appoint Fed governors who share this commitment and who will carry out unwavering oversight of the financial industry.”[10]
- Clinton expressed support on May 5, 2016, for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s newly announced plan to ban mandatory arbitration provisions in credit card and bank contracts. She said, “With today’s proposal, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau takes aim at yet another unfair practice on Wall Street. Mandatory arbitration clauses buried deep in contracts for credit cards, student loans, and more prevent American consumers from having their day in court when they’ve been harmed.”[11]
- During the fifth Democratic primary debate on February 4, 2016, Hillary Clinton stressed that her policy on regulating Wall Street would not be influenced by political contributions or speaking fees she received. “I think I may not have done the job I should in explaining my record. You know, I did — when I left the secretary of State’s office, like so many former officials, military leaders, journalists, others, I did go on the speaking circuit. I spoke to heart doctors, I spoke to the American Camping Association, I spoke to auto dealers, and yes, I spoke to firms on Wall Street. They wanted me to talk about the world, what my experience had been as secretary of State. But what I want people to know is I went to Wall Street before the crash. I was the one saying you’re going to wreck the economy because of these shenanigans with mortgages. I called to end the carried interest loophole that hedge fund managers enjoy. I proposed changes in sCEO compensation. I called for a consumer protection financial bureau before it was created. And I think the best evidence that the Wall Street people at least know where I stand and where I have always stood is because they are trying to beat me in this primary. They have collected and spent as much as $6 million on these ads. Hedge fund billionaires, Karl Rove, another billionaire, jumped in. And why are they doing that? These are guys who try to make smart investments. They know my record, they know me, they know that I say what I believe and I will do it. And I also have a pretty good understanding about how to stop them. So I do want people to know that, and I think it’s important for everybody to understand I have a record, I have stood firm and I will be the person who prevents them from ever wrecking the economy again.” When asked if she would release the text of the speeches, Clinton said “I will look into it. I don’t know the status, but I will certainly look into it.[12]Cite error: Closing
</ref>missing for<ref>tag
- On October 27, 2015, Clinton said in an interview on CBS' "The Late Show" that she would permit large banks to fail if there were another financial crisis. "First of all, under Dodd-Frank, that is what will happen because we now have stress tests and I'm going to impose a risk fee on the big bank if they engage in risky behavior but they have to know, their shareholders have to know that yes, they will fail and if they're too big to fail. Then under my plan and others that have been proposed, they may have to be broken up," she said.[13]
- Clinton wrote an op-ed for Bloomberg on October 8, 2015, detailing her plan to avoid another financial crisis. She listed improving accountability, reducing the complexity and risk factors of financial institutions, penalizing high-frequency trading, and continuing support for Dodd-Frank as essential to encouraging growth on Wall Street.[14]
- On October 8, 2015, Clinton released a white paper on her 2016 presidential campaign website outlining her banking policy.[15] Clinton advocated for the following courses of action:
- Veto any legislation that would weaken the Dodd-Frank Act.[16]
- Impose "a graduated risk fee every year on the liabilities of banks with more than $50 billion in assets and other financial institutions that are designated by regulators for enhanced oversight."[16]
- Enhance the authority of regulators to evaluate large financial firms, allowing them to require reorganization or dissolution if the institution cannot be managed.[16]
- Enhance transparency requirements for the "shadow banking" sector, including "certain activities of hedge funds, investment banks, and other non-bank financial companies."[16]
- Impose a high-frequency trading tax to improve the stability of markets.[16]
- Establish compensation rules for management at large banks and other financial firms requiring a "meaningful portion of their annual compensation" be deferred to discourage excessive risk-taking.[16]
- Strengthen the Volcker Rule, which limits speculative trading using taxpayer-backed money.[16]
- Update and simplify disclosure requirements under the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Department of the Treasury and other federal banking agencies.[16]
- Expand international cooperation to establish stronger global capital requirements and improve the cybersecurity of financial systems.[16]
- Emphasize individual accountability in corporate wrongdoing by prosecuting, fining and imprisoning culpable executives and employees.[16]
- Expand employment bars across the financial services industry for individuals convicted of criminal activity.[16]
- Limit the use of deferred prosecution and non-prosecution agreements with clearer prosecutorial guidelines.[16]
- "Require that firms admit wrongdoing and the underlying facts as a condition of settlement agreements" and pass the Truth in Settlements Act of 2015 to increase the transparency of corporate settlements.[16]
- "Restrict SEC waivers when companies engage in repeated egregious conduct."[16]
- Increase funding for and the independence of the Department of Justice, SEC and Commodity Futures Trading Commission.[16]
- Increase the incentive for whistleblowing in the financial sector by raising the rewards cap.[16]
- In response to calls from some Democrats to reinstate the Glass-Steagall Act in July 2015, which separated the activities of commercial banks and securities firms, Clinton said the issue of banking regulation was “more complicated” than one law could address. “I’m not interested in just saying there is one answer to the too-big-to-fail problem,” Clinton explained.[17][18]
- Between 2013 and 2015, Clinton gave several paid speeches to financial institutions in the Unites States and abroad. WikiLeaks released alleged excerpts and transcripts from those speeches in October 2016.[19]
- The Clinton campaign declined to verify whether the speeches were authentic.[20]
- In an October 2013 speech at the Goldman Sachs AIMS Alternative Investments Symposium, Clinton allegedly said that it was an "oversimplification" to blame the global financial crisis on the United States and its banking system. "And I think that there's a lot that could have been avoided in terms of both misunderstanding and really politicizing what happened with greater transparency, with greater openness on all sides, you know, what happened, how did it happen, how do we prevent it from happening? You guys help us figure it out and let's make sure that we do it right this time," she continued.[19]
- At the same event, Clinton allegedly said that people who worked in the financial industry knew it best. "There's nothing magic about regulations, too much is bad, too little is bad. How do you get to the golden key, how do we figure out what works? And the people that know the industry better than anybody are the people who work in the industry," Clinton said.[19]
- For more information about the WikiLeaks release, click here.
- In a March 2008 press release, Clinton recommended that a federal minimum standard be set for mortgage originators and supported establishing a national interest rate cap of 30 percent on all credit cards.[21]
- In November 2007, Clinton called for greater transparency in financial markets in response to disproportionate corporate profits and "enormous losses on securities linked to mortgages." She said, "I believe in our markets, but markets work best when there is information flow. And a lot of these new financial products are not transparent. The market doesn't have enough information about them, and certainly buyers don't. Today, we need a sensible middle ground between heavy-handed regulation and a hands-off approach to a risk that can hurt the innocent, as well as the sophisticated buyer."[22]
| The 2016 Democratic Party Platform on Wall Street and banking policy | |||
|---|---|---|---|
|
Tim Kaine
- On July 18, 2016, Tim Kaine was one of 70 senators who sent a letter to Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Richard Cordray asking him to try to "prevent any unintended consequences that negatively impact community banks and credit unions or unnecessarily limit their ability to serve consumers."
- Liberal groups criticized Kaine for signing this letter. In response, Kaine spokeswoman Amy Dudley released a statement arguing that Kaine had a record of pressing for stronger banking regulations. "Sen. Kaine is a strong supporter of Dodd Frank’s financial protections because certain financial institutions wreaked havoc on the American economy, hurting millions of Americans in the process and believes we need strong rules to stop that chaos from happening again," Dudley said. "The toughest regulation should be on the biggest and riskiest institutions. Credit unions, community banks and regional banks need to be carefully regulated, but the nature of the regulation can be different to ensure scarce resources are efficiently spent allowing regulators to focus on the bad actors."[25]
- Read more of Tim Kaine's public statements on 2016 campaign issues.
Republican ticket
Donald Trump
- In an interview on CNBC on September 12, 2016, Trump said that Janet Yellen, the chair of the Federal Reserve, has created a “false stock market” by keeping interest rates low to bolster Barack Obama’s legacy. Regarding interest rates, he said, “Well it's staying at zero because she's obviously political, and she's doing what Obama wants her to do … Any increase at all will be a very, very small increase because they want to keep the market up so Obama goes out and let the new guy ... raise interest rates ... and watch what happens in the stock market.”[26]
- Trump said his comments in a CNBC interview on May 6, 2016, about defaulting on debt were mischaracterized. “I said if we can buy back government debt at a discount, in other words, if interest rates go up and we can buy bonds back at a discount – if we are liquid enough as a country, we should do that. In other words, we can buy back debt at a discount,” Trump said. He added that the U.S. will never have to default on debt “because you print the money.”[27]
- During an interview with Fortune on April 19, 2016, Donald Trump praised Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen, but said he supports “proposals that would take power away from the Fed, and allow Congress to audit the U.S. central bank’s decision making.” When asked about Yellen, Trump said, “I think she’s [Janet Yellen] done a serviceable job. I don’t want to comment on reappointment, but I would be more inclined to put other people in.” Trump also commented on low-interest rates, saying, “The best thing we have going for us is that interest rates are so low. There are lots of good things that could be done that aren’t being done, amazingly. … People think the Fed should be raising interest rates. If rates are 3% or 4% or whatever, you start adding that kind of number to an already reasonably crippled economy in terms of what we produce, that number is a very scary number.”[28]
| Fact check/Do all the Republican presidential candidates support the repeal of Dodd-Frank? | |
| In a Facebook post Elizabeth Warren wrote, “the Republicans running for President claim they will repeal all the new financial regulations.”
We argue that Warren’s post oversimplified things. While six candidates have stated unequivocally that they would support repealing the law, the evidence suggests that four others may only be interested in repealing parts of it, and the stance of one candidate was unclear. | |
- In October 2015, Trump said the Dodd-Frank Act was "terrible" and that he would "absolutely" repeal the law. "Under Dodd-Frank, the regulators are running the banks. The bankers are petrified of the regulators. And the problem is that the banks aren’t loaning money to people who will create jobs," Trump said.[29]
- In an interview with Bloomberg's Mark Halperin in August 2015, Trump said he appreciated the low interest rates set by the Federal Reserve as a businessman, but expressed concern for the "bubble" they could create. "I like low interest rates. From the country’s standpoint, I’m just not sure it’s a very good thing, because I really do believe we’re creating a bubble." When asked if he approved of the Volcker Rule, Trump said, "Well I’m not sure if [Paul Volcker] likes it, but if he’s — you know what, honestly, Mark, if he’s happy, I’m happy. He was a terrific guy. I’ve met him a few times. And I thought he was terrific. But I think his policy and his demeanor — there was something very solid about him. His demeanor were [sic] very good."[30]
| The 2016 Republican Party Platform on Wall Street and banking policy | |||
|---|---|---|---|
|
Mike Pence
- In September 2008, Mike Pence wrote a letter to his colleagues explaining why he opposed the Wall Street bailout. He wrote, "The decision to give the federal government the ability to nationalize almost every bad mortgage in America interrupts this basic truth of our free market economy. Republicans improved this bill but it remains the largest corporate bailout in American history, forever changes the relationship between government and the financial sector, and passes the cost along to the American people. I cannot support it."[32]
Withdrawn candidates
Republicans
- Jeb Bush on banking policy
- Ben Carson on banking policy
- Chris Christie on banking policy
- Ted Cruz on banking policy
- Carly Fiorina on banking policy
- Jim Gilmore on banking policy
- Lindsey Graham on banking policy
- Mike Huckabee on banking policy
- John Kasich on banking policy
- George Pataki on banking policy
- Rand Paul on banking policy
- Marco Rubio on banking policy
- Rick Santorum on banking policy
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms 2016 presidential candidates on Wall Street and banking policy. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
External links
- ProCon.org's "Should Glass-Steagall Be Reinstated?"
- ProCon.org's "Should the US Return to the Gold Standard in Which Coin and Currency Are Backed by Gold?"
Footnotes
- ↑ International Business Times, " Election 2016 And The Economy: Should Democrats Be Concerned About China's 'Black Monday' Market Meltdown?" August 26, 2015
- ↑ The New York Times, "Wall St. Policy Poses a Challenge for Presidential Candidates," August 30, 2015
- ↑ The New York Times, "A Plunge in China Rattles Markets Across the Globe," August 23, 2015
- ↑ The Christian Science Monitor, "Who is Wall Street’s favorite presidential candidate?" October 16, 2015
- ↑ The Intercept, "Hillary Clinton Made More in 12 Speeches to Big Banks Than Most of Us Earn in a Lifetime," January 8, 2016
- ↑ The Wall Street Journal, "Bernie Sanders Ad Steps Up Attack on Hillary Clinton’s Wall Street Ties," January 28, 2016
- ↑ CNN, "Sanders: Clinton is 'funded by Wall Street,'" February 3, 2016
- ↑ Hillary Clinton for President, "Hillary Clinton’s Open Letter to Wells Fargo Customers," September 20, 2016
- ↑ The Wall Street Journal, "Hillary Clinton Calls for Simplifying Regulations for Community Banks, Credit Unions," August 23, 2016
- ↑ The Huffington Post, "Hillary Clinton Embraces Progressive Federal Reserve Reforms," May 12, 2016
- ↑ TIME, "Hillary Clinton Supports Ending Forced Arbitration," May 5, 2016
- ↑ The New York Times, "Transcript of the Democratic Presidential Debate," February 5, 2016
- ↑ CNN, "Hillary Clinton on Colbert: I would let the big banks fail," October 27, 2015
- ↑ Bloomberg, "My Plan to Prevent the Next Crash," October 8, 2015
- ↑ Hillary Clinton for President, "Wall Street Should Work for Main Street," October 8, 2015
- ↑ 16.00 16.01 16.02 16.03 16.04 16.05 16.06 16.07 16.08 16.09 16.10 16.11 16.12 16.13 16.14 16.15 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedClintonBanking - ↑ The Wall Street Journal, "Hillary Clinton Rebuffs Liberals’ Push to Break Up Banks," July 23, 2015
- ↑ The New York Times, "Hillary Clinton Strongly Defends Planned Parenthood and Cites Nuance on Glass-Steagall," July 23, 2015
- ↑ 19.0 19.1 19.2 WikiLeaks, "HRC Paid Speeches," accessed October 11, 2016
- ↑ The Chicago Tribune, "The inherent peril in trusting whatever WikiLeaks dumps on us," October 13, 2016
- ↑ The American Presidency Project, "Senator Clinton Calls for Immediate Action to Strengthen Financial Market Regulation and Help Keep Families in Their Homes," March 31, 2008
- ↑ The American Presidency Project, "Hillary Clinton: Policy Address in Knoxville, Iowa on America's Economic Challenges," November 19, 2007
- ↑ Democratic Party, "The 2016 Democratic Party Platform," accessed August 23, 2016
- ↑ 24.0 24.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Politico, "Liberals lash out at Tim Kaine over banking letter," July 21, 2016
- ↑ CNBC, "TRUMP: Janet Yellen should be ‘ashamed’ of what she’s doing to the country," September 12, 2016
- ↑ CNN, "Trump: U.S. will never default 'because you print the money',"May 10, 2016
- ↑ Fortune, "Donald Trump Likes Low Interest Rates But Says He'd Replace Yellen," April 19, 2016
- ↑ The Hill, "Trump: Economic bubble about to burst," October 14, 2015
- ↑ National Review, "Is Donald Trump Starting to Sound a Little Serious?" August 4, 2015
- ↑ Republican Party, "The 2016 Republican Party Platform," accessed August 23, 2016
- ↑ Human Events, "Why I Oppose The Bailout," September 28, 2008
| |||||||||||
