The New York Fed Chief Is Stepping Down — but Not Quietly
Ms. Yellen gave a speech last summer defending regulations that she said made the “financial system substantially safer.”
And Stanley Fischer, who announced his plans to step down as vice chairman of the Fed earlier this year, said in an interview with the Financial Times
that any move to tamper with Dodd-Frank would be “mind boggling” and “extremely dangerous.”
“There has been a broad message from the leadership of the Fed
that Dodd-Frank has been effective and that you have to leave it alone,” said Chris Whalen, a financial consultant who worked at the New York Fed.
William C. Dudley, who has been president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York since the financial crisis
and became a forceful advocate for cultural change at large financial institutions, announced Monday that he will retire next year.
Only hours after his early retirement was announced, Mr. Dudley delivered a stark public warning against rolling back laws aimed at keeping large banks
and Wall Street firms in check — the latest Fed official to voice concerns about a trend toward deregulation under the Trump administration.
“We had a woefully inadequate regulatory regime in place, and while it is much better now, there is still work to do.”
Mr. Trump and his top economic advisers have made no secret
that they believe many post-crisis financial regulations overreached and are now restricting banks from making loans and trading securities.
In his speech on Monday, Mr. Dudley cautioned against making broad changes to the Dodd-Frank Act, the web of rules
and regulations put in place in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis to prevent a repeat meltdown.