Regulation

U.S. Treasury Secretary nominee Steven Mnuchin said on Thursday he would work to eliminate the need for offshore tax havens, even as Democratic senators accused the Wall Street veteran of using just such vehicles to benefit his Dune Capital Partners LLC hedge fund.

The United Kingdom's finance industry has largely surrendered its efforts to maintain full "passporting" rights into the European Union following an eventual Brexit, and is pushing instead for a more limited trade deal that would potentially exclude some financial products.

Sullivan & Cromwell partner Jay Clayton is reportedly a leading candidate to head the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in the incoming Trump administration, Reuters revealed on Tuesday.

Carl Icahn took aim at environmental and banking regulations on Thursday, saying overregulation has stifled corporate investment in the U.S. and that he would continue urging President-elect Donald Trump to revise them in his new role as "special advisor for regulatory reform".

A few weeks before the inauguration of a new president that has vowed to unwind much of financial sector's current crisis-inspired regulation, the U.S. Federal Reserve Board has detailed how banks can apply for a five-year extension of Volcker Rule compliance.

SEC director of enforcement Andrew Ceresney has announced that he will step down from the Commission at the end of December, joining a raft of SEC officials leaving government service ahead of Donald Trump's inauguration as president - and the era of looser financial regulation he is expected to initiate.

Blackstone's Steve Schwarzman, recently named by President-elect Donald Trump to a blue-ribbon strategic advisory panel of American business leaders, said on Tuesday he expects a "very substantial reversal of regulations of all types," in the financial sector that will boost U.S. growth and attract foreign investment.

Donald Trump's plan to spend as much as half a trillion dollars on infrastructure and slash taxes – initiatives that could add dramatically to the U.S. debt and balloon the budget deficit – has Wall Street following the selection of U.S. Treasury Secretary much more closely than in recent transitions. Reportedly on the short list: JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, U.S. Rep. Jeb Hensarling of Texas, and former Goldman Sachs executive Steven Mnuchin. 

Donald Trump's campaign promise to completely dismantle the Dodd-Frank Reform and Consumer Protection Act may become more of a revamp, according to new language posted on his transition website that suggests the president-elect's plans include removing the Volcker rule that restricts banks from investing proprietary capital and making it easier for them to lend.

Major Wall Street financial institutions are seeking U.S. Federal Reserve approval to delay compliance with the Volcker Rule for an additional five years in order to deal with illiquid fund investments, Reuters reports.