[video] Treasury secretary nominee Steve Mnuchin: Undoing Dodd-Frank “top priority”

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In an interview with CNBC (video below) on Wednesday that also included Commerce Secretary nominee Wilbur Ross, Mnuchin revealed his thoughts on the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act.

The act is already in the spotlight right now since shortly after Trump became president-elect, he released a plan to dismantle Dodd-Frank.

During the interview, Mnuchin said, “The No. 1 problem with Dodd-Frank is it is way too complicated and it cuts back lending.”

“We want to strip back parts of Dodd-Frank that prevent banks from lending and that will be the No. 1 priority on the regulatory side,” he told CNBC.

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Big Short II: Trump Picks Foreclosure King Mnuchin for Treasury Secretary

Mr. Barofsky, former SIGTARP, writes early on that “I had no idea that the U.S. government had been captured by the banks,” and at another point describes his strategy to use the press to get the attention of Congress, and by extension an obstreperous Treasury: “Our message was simple: Treasury’s desperate attempt to bail out Wall Street was setting the country up for potentially catastrophic losses.”””

Feds allow high-profile case against Bank of America to quietly fizzle out

Another example of a failed administration.

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The U.S. government let a high-profile mortgage case against Bank of America quietly fizzle out this week.

The Department of Justice had until Monday to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to take up its “Hustle” lawsuit against the Charlotte-based bank. In May, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed findings against the bank in the 2012 case, the first civil fraud suit brought by the Justice Department over home loans sold to mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

A Justice Department spokeswoman did not comment on the decision to let Monday’s deadline pass. A Bank of America spokesman also declined to comment.

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Trump ‘doesn’t respect’ Jamie Dimon, not considering him for Treasury, source says

Told ya! Thank Goodness.

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Hold off on the balloons and cake for Jamie. He’s off of Trump’s list.

It’s probably safe to say that JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon won’t be the treasury secretary after all.

Wall Street has been abuzz for the past two weeks with speculation that the 60-year-old head of the largest U.S. bank by assets would run the Treasury Department for President-elect Donald Trump. CNBC reported on Nov. 10 that advisers close to Trump were suggesting Dimon for the vital Cabinet role.

However, a source speaking to NBC News said a Dimon appointment is not going to happen.

In fact, Trump “doesn’t respect” Dimon, the source said, adding that the bank chief “was never under consideration” for the appointment and was not on “any Trump-approved list.”

That may be just as well considering that the sources who initially spoke to CNBC had indicated Dimon wasn’t interested anyway.

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Wells Fargo payouts should be halted in wake of ruling: U.S. lawmakers

Almost too little too late.

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The U.S. government should go after payouts to former Wells Fargo & Co (>> Wells Fargo & Co) executives involved in a scandal over unauthorized accounts now that a federal regulator has said it has the power to do so, lawmakers said on Monday.

The San Francisco-based bank reached a $190 million settlement with federal regulators after admitting employees opened as many as 2 million accounts without customer consent.

That September deal allowed Wells Fargo to make “golden parachute” payments to departing executives. But on Friday, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, which oversees many federal banks, voided those terms.

On Monday, two leading Democratic lawmakers urged the OCC to move ahead and revoke compensation to relevant executives.

“Bank executives shouldn’t get golden parachutes while employees making $12 an hour get shown the door,” U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio told Reuters in a statement.

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Deutsche Bank is planning to reduce its securitization business, and perhaps its mortgage business altogether

Awww… too bad. Bye bye.

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From Reuters:

Deutsche Bank is looking to cut its loan securitization business further starting with repackaged U.S. mortgages, two people familiar with the matter said, as the lender braces for a large fine in the United States for alleged mis-selling of such debt.

A final decision about this core business is set to come early next year, the people said, and securitization cutbacks could become a central part of an expected strategic overhaul at the bank, once U.S. authorities have settled on a penalty.

“We have already shrunk the business over the last two to three years,” a person with direct knowledge of the bank’s plans said. “It could shrink a lot more. Not only sales and trading, but also in origination.”

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