Fintech during Trump’s second term: Five Washington insiders

WASHINGTON — Current and former federal lawmakers hope fintech regulation in the second Trump administration will usher in an era of more innovation, and they are encouraging industry participants to bring ideas to the table.

The bank regulatory agencies are on the brink of major shifts in leadership and authority after keeping a tighter thumb on banks and their relationships with fintechs during the Biden era.

Though it’s unclear what statutes and regulations will be amended, added or dropped, the handling of hot tech topics like artificial intelligence and third-party relationships is in for a reset, policymakers said Tuesday at the American Fintech Council’s Policy Summit.

While President-elect Donald Trump hasn’t said who he’ll tap to lead the regulatory agencies, people in the Beltway and beyond expect a softer touch going forward. At the AFC event, fintechs, banks and other stakeholders expressed hope that agencies like the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. will welcome more experimentation.

The AFC event came one day before a House Financial Services Committee oversight hearing, where Republican lawmakers grilled Biden-era regulators, hoping to rein in rulemaking before Trump takes office in January.

Here’s what current and former policymakers said Tuesday about the fate of financial legislation and enforcement during the second Trump administration: