Donald Trump Advisers Eye Bank Regulator Consolidation

Trump administration officials are discussing plans to curtail and combine the power of banking regulators—without Congress’s input.

- Gina Heeb, Brian Schwartz & Annamaria Andriotis

In recent discussions, Trump advisers and allies have examined whether it is possible to collapse the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. into the Treasury Department, according to people familiar with the matter. They have also discussed combining the FDIC’s regulatory role with that of the CFPB.

Alongside the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency, Vought moved at breakneck speed to close the CFPB headquarters and order staff to halt work.

Tuesday evening, Trump nominated Jonathan Gould, a former OCC official, to run the OCC and Jonathan McKernan, who had been at the FDIC until this week, to run CFPB.

Staff inside the FDIC and the OCC expect to hear from the DOJ soon, according to people familiar with the matter.

Discussions on how to shrink, consolidate, or even eliminate the bank regulators have been underway since at least late last year, the Wall Street Journal previously reported. Those discussions included combining or otherwise restructuring the FDIC, OCC, and the Federal Reserve’s supervision role, the Journal reported.