We Know How This Ends: Trump Regulators Open Casino Doors for Bankers
Statements of Public Citizen Experts
Note: Today, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) finalized new rules implementing Section 619 of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. Known as the Volcker Rule, it governs speculation by banks that receive taxpayer-backed deposit insurance through the FDIC. The vote was 3-1, with Martin Gruenberg, a Democrat named to the FDIC by President Barack Obama, dissenting.
“With fractures in the global economy threatening a real stress test for America’s megabanks, the FDIC should not open the door for American bankers to gamble casino-style with depositors’ money. Our economy worked well when federally insured banks deployed government-subsidized deposit funding for loans to business and homebuyers. When deregulation in 1999 allowed banks to gamble, it took less than a decade to run the entire system off the rails leading to the 2008 financial crash. What was needed then and now is the complete separation of commercial and speculation banking.”
- Lisa Gilbert, vice president of legislative affairs
“We all know how it ends when Donald Trump experiments with casinos: bankruptcy. We can’t let him do the same with American consumers’ money. After the 2008 financial crisis, another foray into casino banking could be fatal. Public Citizen lauds Director Martin Gruenberg for his forceful dissent on this irresponsible decision.”
- Bartlett Naylor, financial policy advocate