Former President Donald Trump’s loosening of rules in the banking sector in 2018 “had nothing to do with” the failure of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, according to Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) Vice Chairman Travis Hill.
Since the collapse of SVB and Signature Bank, a chorus of Democrats have asserted that the former president’s signing of the bipartisan Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief and Consumer Protection Act contributed to the banking turmoil last month.
Five years ago, the legislation, which gained support of Republicans and moderate Democrats, reversed some of the requirements in the landmark Dodd-Frank bill that was enacted following the financial crisis more than a decade ago. The Great Recession-era bill mandated banks with more than $50 billion in assets to go through an annual stress tests by the Federal Reserve. The Trump-era legislative pursuit—S. 2155—raised the threshold to $250 billion….