The banking industry, as represented by American Banker’s readership, largely anticipates that Harris’ financial policies would be more liberal than Biden’s.
After Biden exited the 2024 presidential race and Harris stepped in, the campaign has offered few clues as to how much Harris would stick to the financial policy priorities, such tackling so-called junk fees and finalizing higher capital rules via the Basel III endgame proposal.
Fifty-five percent of the poll respondents believe Harris will pursue more liberal financial policies than Biden, with 32% predicting her policies will be “significantly more liberal” and 23% expecting them to be “somewhat more liberal.” On the other hand, only 13% expect Harris to be more conservative than Biden, and none anticipate her policies to be “significantly more conservative.” A notable 29% think her policies will be “about the same” as Biden’s, while 3% remain uncertain.
While Harris has done little to address her financial policy priorities for her term, analysts largely expect her to carry on with Biden’s previous plans. She has a tough previous record with Wall Street banks in California but has done little on the national stage during her time in the U.S. Senate.
That said, Harris’ other economic policies might suggest that she would take a slightly more lax approach to financial policy, bucking the idea that she might be more liberal.
She has outlined what she calls an “opportunity economy” that’s heavy on kitchen table issues like child care and small business formation, but has tempered some of the Biden administration’s more liberal agenda items, such as proposing a lower rate than Biden for corporations to pay in taxes when the Trump tax cuts expire next year.
When American Banker respondents were asked to describe how the shift of the Democratic candidate, from Biden to Harris, changed their expectations for how a Democratic White House would affect their industry, some expressed concern that Harris would be more liberal.
“Kamala Harris is somewhat of an enigma since she has apparently disavowed some of her major beliefs from her 2020 run. When she ran in 2020, she was one of the more left-leaning candidates … I would think she almost certainly still harbors many of those same views and that would suggest more of what we’ve seen over the past four years including the current administration’s war on ‘Junk Fees’ and, what I believe are, misguided views of banking and private market in general. We not only see more regulations when Democrats are in office, but we also see more aggressive enforcement,” a millennial staffer wrote.
“I believe that Harris is much more liberal than Biden (if that’s possible), and has virtually no experience that makes her qualified for the presidency. I am deeply concerned that if she gets elected that our economy will falter further, foreign relations will suffer and crime will spiral out of control across the country,” a Generation X executive wrote.
Others thought Harris would have a larger impact than Biden on regulatory matters.
“It seems to be the case that Harris and Biden share many of the same stances on policy issues. Harris also seems to be more heavily focused on scrutinizing anticompetitive practices from big corporations, which is important, but could have drastic effects on the banking industry,” a Gen Z staffer wrote.
“VP Harris seems to see herself as a rule-maker who believes government should have a larger presence in all industry. Consumer protection is important, but not unlike most progressive Democrats, she espouses laws that pick winners and losers according to the progressive vision, not according to achievement, effort, or ability,” a baby boomer staffer wrote.
Some were positive on what Harris could bring to the table.
“Since Harris is actively touting solutions via pushing affordable housing and small business things would go better for us under Harris,” a baby boomer manager wrote.
“Harris improves our industry’s chances, as she does for the rest of this country. The economic boom we saw under Trump was a temporary and unsustainable farce,” another millennial staffer wrote.
“Harris seems more open to curbs on regulatory authority, meaning more business is likely to get done instead of just litigation over rules,” a Gen X staffer wrote.