The federal regulatory freeze announced Friday by the Trump administration does not likely affect federal financial regulatory agencies, according to one law firm’s interpretation.
The firm of Davis Polk on Saturday posted an analysis that gives three reasons why the freeze does not affect the financial regulators:
- The issuance of such a memorandum is a routine part of presidential transition.
- The regulatory freeze memo (issued Friday, Jan. 20) only applies to executive departments and agencies, and not independent agencies (which makes up most of the financial regulators). “Presidential regulatory memoranda have typically excluded these independent regulatory agencies,” the analysis points out in a footnote.The memo additionally does not request that independent agencies voluntarily comply with a regulatory moratorium, as did a similar memorandum issued shortly after the inauguration of President George W. Bush, according to the law firm’s analysis.
- The Jan. 20 regulatory freeze (in a departure from earlier directives) also freezes issuance of any “guidance document[s]” by an executive agency.
President Trump’s First-Day Regulatory Moratorium Has Little Impact for Financial Regulation