U.S. Wall Street regulators have imposed far lower penalties in the
first six months of this year compared with the same period in 2016,
according to a Wall Street Journal analysis published on Monday.
Penalties imposed on firms and individuals by the U.S. Securities and
Exchange Commission, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority in the first half of 2017
amounted to 489 million U.S. dollars, about 66 percent lower than
1.4-billion-dollar fines in the first half of 2016, the Journal
reported.
That put Wall Street regulators on track for the lowest annual level of fines since at least 2010, according to the Journal.
The rapid drop in fines comes after the Trump administration prepares
to roll back some tough financial regulations during the Obama
administration.
"Lawyers who defend financial cases said a shift to a
business-friendly stance at regulatory agencies in the Trump
administration is one of several reasons for the decrease," the report
said, adding other factors include delays resulting from the change in
administrations and the winding down of cases from the financial crisis.
Meanwhile, Wall Street, including organizations like the U.S. Chamber
of Commerce and the Financial Services Institute, is lobbying to
further reduce the size of financial penalties, the Journal said.
But critics have warned that the United States
should not ignore the lessons from the recent financial crisis in 2008
that hit the global economy hard, as financial deregulation could sow
the seeds of the next financial crisis.