2026-03-26T10:02:58.165Z / 路透社
华盛顿/纽约，3月26日（路透社） – 尽管美国总统唐纳德·特朗普一直厚颜无耻地要求向来独立的美联储降低利率，但他的政府也在试图悄无声息地引导央行在另一个关键领域的政策：对华尔街银行的监管。
根据对多名现任和前任美联储及财政部官员的采访以及对公开声明的审查，特朗普政府旨在放松2008年危机后出台的银行规则，称这些规则阻碍了经济增长。该政府现在正寻求对美联储的规则制定和监督职能施加更大影响。
订阅《每日 docket》（The Daily Docket）新闻通讯，获取最新法律新闻，直接发送到您的收件箱。立即注册。
三位前官员表示，这些努力（其中一些细节是首次在此报道）可能使美联储的规则制定和监督职能更容易受到意识形态压力和华尔街影响，并可能削弱央行维护金融体系的能力。
如果前美联储理事凯文·沃什（Kevin Warsh）获得确认，接替将于5月卸任的现任美联储主席杰罗姆·鲍威尔（Jerome Powell），这些努力可能会取得进展。
沃什曾表示，美联储的监管和监督政策不应独立，央行应缩小其在经济中的作用，这意味着私营银行和相关政策杠杆将发挥更大作用。他未回应置评请求。
过去一年，美联储官员一直在纠结是否要遵守特朗普要求美联储提交新规则供白宫审查的命令，两名知情人士透露。财政部也在越来越多地试图引导美联储的规则制定议程，去年曾一度施压美联储加快一项重大监管改革，该改革旨在缩小审查人员对银行处罚的理由范围，三位消息人士称。
关键问题涉及银行必须留存的资本金数额以及审查人员如何日常监控放贷机构的安全性等多项重大改革。
“如果由独立机构来执行，银行监管会更有效。”斯科特·阿尔瓦雷斯（Scott Alvarez）表示，他在美联储工作了近36年，其中担任总法律顾问超过十年。
“如果监管中带有政治因素，那么与政府关系密切的银行就能得偿所愿。这对金融体系来说是危险的。”
美联储发言人拒绝置评。白宫也未回应置评请求。
白宫规则制定命令的困境
去年4月确认听证会上，美联储理事、特朗普的监管负责人米歇尔·鲍曼（Michelle Bowman）对是否遵守特朗普2025年要求美联储和其他独立监管机构提交规则供白宫预算办公室审查的行政命令留下了可能性。
两名知情人士称，该命令打破了数十年先例——这些先例保护美联储的规则制定免受白宫干预，此举令一些高级官员感到担忧。
美联储官员不确定如何推进，于是向其他独立联邦监管机构的同行征求意见，希望这些机构能共同抵制该命令。截至目前，美联储尚未提交任何规则。
然而，央行已遵循政府其他优先事项，包括取消气候变化风险相关举措，并放弃对银行声誉风险的监管——特朗普称这一监管视角导致贷款机构歧视他和其他保守派人士。
鲍威尔曾表示，美联储会在符合法律的情况下与行政命令保持一致，正如过去的政府时期一样。
美联储发言人援引鲍曼2月份在国会作证时的话称，美联储独立性“至关重要，但随之而来的是问责和透明的责任”。
对美联储独立性的攻击
特朗普对包括鲍威尔在内的美联储高级官员发起了施压运动，目标是降低利率，这引发了政治抗议和法庭挑战。
华盛顿美联储的两党董事会中，共和党目前以4-3的多数席位决定监管问题。由于董事会长期以来重视共识，民主党人仍能发挥影响力，塑造共和党主导的政策。
学者们普遍认为，国会旨在保护美联储的货币政策免受政治心血来潮的影响，但在这种独立性是否延伸至其监管和监督职能方面存在分歧。
“有助于货币政策的规则制定活动应与美联储董事会的其他活动一视同仁。”哥伦比亚大学Richman商业、法律与公共政策中心高级研究员托德·贝克（Todd Baker）表示。
另一些人则认为，美联储存在封闭和官僚化的文化，导致了失误，包括2023年硅谷银行的倒闭。他们还辩称，政府在确保金融监管机构协调方面应发挥重要作用。
两名熟悉其想法的人士透露，鲍曼私下将特朗普削减联邦劳动力和限制独立监管机构的运动视为对美联储进行变革的授权。
“很多人会同意，我们既需要从外部也需要从内部改革美联储。”密歇根大学法学教授、前美联储律师杰里米·克雷斯（Jeremy Kress）表示，他总体上支持更严格的监管规则。
“鲍曼战略性地放弃了一些自主权，将部分权力让给财政部，以实现更好的协调。”
财政部角色的扩大
虽然财政部在危机期间历史上一直协调各机构并就部分监管提供反馈，但财政部部长斯科特·贝森特（Scott Bessent）表示，他将主导银行监管，财政部参与美联储议程的程度已大幅增加，三位前监管官员称。
财政部发言人援引贝森特在7月美联储会议上的讲话称，财政部将制定政策方向并推动银行监管机构，确保他们优先考虑经济增长。
“财政部将打破政策惯性，解决部门间的地盘之争，推动共识，促使行动，确保没有单一监管机构阻碍改革。”
这有时会造成紧张局势。两名消息来源称，美联储官员私下质疑（有时会抵制）财政部官员的努力。
当财政部官员在去年10月贝森特发表演讲前，施压美联储、联邦存款保险公司（FDIC）和货币监理署（OCC）发布一份定义“不安全和不稳健”银行做法的提案时，美联储官员拒绝了。两名直接知情的消息来源称，他们希望有更多时间评估潜在的法律问题。美联储尚未发布该提案。
FDIC发言人拒绝置评。货币监理署未回应置评请求。
人事变动
在鲍曼领导下，一场影响深远的人事变动正在重塑监管部门。她在特朗普政府史无前例地试图罢免其民主党前任后升任现职。一份内部备忘录显示，持续的人员削减导致长期任职、多年来一直抵制外部对美联储规则制定影响的核心员工离职，三位消息人士称。
去年，鲍曼还聘请了三名银行业高管，包括长期代表华尔街银行的Davis Polk律师事务所合伙人兰德尔·吉恩（Randall Guynn）。据路透社报道，今年3月，他被任命为监管局局长，该职位自至少1977年以来一直由资深美联储职业员工担任。
通常，美联储理事依靠职业员工而非外部人士来保持政策连续性。
在鲍曼的共和党前任兰德尔·夸尔斯（Randal Quarles）任期内，银行游说者经常抱怨，尽管政治领导层发生了变化，他们仍会与根深蒂固的员工产生冲突。其中许多员工最近已离职。
“她正在进行重大变革，而且速度非常快……这对机构的发展方向产生了巨大影响。”前美联储员工、现任职于倡导更严格监管的Better Markets组织的菲利普·巴西尔（Phillip Basil）表示。
更多报道：Manya Saini；编辑：Michelle Price、Suzanne Goldenberg和Anna Driver
我们的标准：汤森路透信托原则。
[记者介绍]：
- （作者信息部分：负责美联储及金融监管政策报道，专注美国银行业监管。在华盛顿工作15年，曾任职于《国会山报》和《华尔街日报》。拥有乔治城大学硕士学位和圣母大学学士学位。）
- （另一位作者：报道金融犯罪，专注证券执法事务。曾报道大宗商品市场和贸易政策。获“商业编辑与写作协会”和“纽约新闻女性俱乐部”奖项。）
How the Trump administration is testing Fed independence on bank rules
2026-03-26T10:02:58.165Z / Reuters
WASHINGTON/NEW YORK, March 26 (Reuters) – While U.S. President Donald Trump has been brazen in his demands for the historically independent Federal Reserve to lower interest rates, his administration is also trying to quietly steer the central bank’s policy in another critical area: oversight of Wall Street banks.
Aiming to ease bank rules introduced after the 2008 crisis that it says are stymieing economic growth, the administration is now seeking more influence over the Fed’s rule-writing and supervision function, according to interviews with multiple current and former Fed and Treasury officials, and a review of public statements.
Jumpstart your morning with the latest legal news delivered straight to your inbox from The Daily Docket newsletter. Sign up here.
Those efforts, some details of which are reported here for the first time, risk making the Fed’s rulemaking and supervision function more vulnerable to ideological pressures and Wall Street influence, and could erode the central bank’s ability to safeguard the financial system, said three former officials.
The push could gain ground if former Fed Governor Kevin Warsh is confirmed to replace current Fed Chair Jerome Powell whose term ends in May.
Warsh has said Fed regulatory and supervision policy should not be independent and that the central bank should reduce its footprint in the economy, implying a greater role for private banks and related policy levers. He did not respond to a request for comment.
Over the past year, Fed officials have wrestled with whether to comply with a Trump order to submit new rules for White House review, said two people with knowledge of the matter. The Treasury Department is also increasingly trying to steer the Fed’s rulemaking agenda, at one point last year pressing the central bank to speed up a major supervision change narrowing the reasons for which examiners can ding banks, said three other sources.
At stake are several major changes to the amount of capital banks must put aside to withstand losses, as well as how examiners monitor the safety of lenders on a daily basis.
“Banking supervision is better if it’s done by an independent agency,” said Scott Alvarez, who spent nearly 36 years at the Fed, including more than a decade as general counsel.
“When there’s a political element to it, then banks that are influential with the administration get their way. That’s dangerous for the financial system.”
A Fed spokesperson declined to comment. The White House did not respond to a request for comment.
WHITE HOUSE ORDER DILEMMA
During her confirmation hearing last April, Fed governor and Trump’s regulatory chief Michelle Bowman left open the possibility of complying with a Trump 2025 executive order requiring the Fed and other independent regulators to submit their rules for White House Budget Office review.
That order, breaking with decades of precedent that had protected Fed rulemaking from White House interference, alarmed some top officials, said two people with knowledge of the discussions.
Unsure how to proceed, Fed officials sounded out their counterparts at other independent federal regulators, in the hopes the agencies would stand together in defying the order, they said. To date, the Fed has not submitted a rule.
However, the central bank has fallen in line with other administration priorities by scrapping its climate change risk initiatives and abandoning its policing of bank reputational risks, a supervisory lens which Trump claims has led lenders to discriminate against him and other conservatives.
Powell has said the central bank aligns with executive orders when consistent with law, as under past administrations.
The Fed spokesperson referred Reuters to Bowman’s February congressional testimony in which she said Fed independence is “of utmost importance, but along with that independence comes the responsibility for accountability and transparency.”
FED INDEPENDENCE ASSAULT
Trump has waged a pressure campaign against top Fed officials, including Powell, with the goal of lowering interest rates, sparking political outcry and court challenges.
The central bank’s bipartisan board in Washington, where Republicans currently hold a 4-3 majority, decides on regulatory issues. Because the board has long prized consensus, Democrats can still wield their influence to shape Republican-led policies.
While scholars generally agree Congress sought to shield the Fed’s monetary policymaking from political whims, they are divided over whether that independence extends to its regulatory and supervisory functions.
“Rulemaking activities that facilitate monetary policy should be treated no differently than other activities of the Board,” said Todd Baker, senior fellow at the Richman Center for Business, Law and Public Policy at Columbia University.
Others say the Fed has an insular and bureaucratic culture that has led to missteps, including the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank in 2023. They also argue the administration has an important role to play in keeping financial regulators on the same page.
Bowman has privately cited Trump’s campaign to cull the federal workforce and rein in independent regulators as a mandate to pursue transformative change at the Fed, according to two people familiar with her thinking.
“Bowman has strategically given up a little bit of autonomy, ceded some power to Treasury for the greater good of coordination,” said Jeremy Kress, a University of Michigan law professor and former Fed attorney who generally favors tougher rules.
“A lot of people would agree that we need Fed reform both from the outside and inside.”
GROWING ROLE OF TREASURY
While the Treasury has historically coordinated agencies during crises and fed back on some regulations, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has said he will steer bank regulation and the department’s involvement with the Fed’s agenda has increased significantly, according to three former regulatory officials.
A Treasury spokesperson referred Reuters to remarks Bessent gave at a Fed conference in July, where he said Treasury would set policy direction and push the bank regulators along, ensuring they prioritize economic growth.
“The department will break through policy inertia, settle turf battles, drive consensus, and motivate action to ensure no single regulator holds up reform,” he said at the time.
That has created occasional tensions. Fed officials have privately questioned – and sometimes pushed back on – Treasury officials’ efforts, said two of the sources.
When Treasury officials pressed the Fed, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, to publish a proposal defining “unsafe and unsound” bank practices ahead of a Bessent speech last October, Fed officials refused. They wanted more time to assess the potential legal issues, according to two sources with direct knowledge. The Fed has yet to issue the proposal.
An FDIC spokesperson declined to comment. The OCC did not respond to a request for comment.
STAFFING CHANGES
Sweeping personnel changes led by Bowman, who ascended to the role after the administration’s unprecedented effort to oust her Democratic predecessor, are also reshaping the supervision and regulation division. Ongoing headcount cuts, detailed in an internal memo, have led to the exits of long-tenured staff who for years served as a bulwark against outside influence on the Fed’s rulemaking, according to three sources.
Last year, Bowman also hired three banking industry executives including Randall Guynn, a longtime Davis Polk partner who has represented Wall Street banks. In March, he was named director of supervision and regulation, a role that had been filled with long-serving Fed career staff since at least 1977, Reuters reported.
Typically, governors have relied on career staff rather than outsiders, to maintain policy continuity.
During the tenure of Bowman’s Republican predecessor Randal Quarles, bank lobbyists frequently complained that despite the change in political leadership, they continued to butt up against entrenched staffers. Many of those staff have recently left.
“She’s making big changes and making them very quickly…It’s having a massive effect on the direction of the institution,” said Phillip Basil, a former Fed staffer now with Better Markets, a group that advocates for tougher rules.
Additional reporting by Manya Saini; Editing by Michelle Price, Suzanne Goldenberg and Anna Driver
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Covers financial regulation and policy out of the Reuters Washington bureau, with a specific focus on banking regulators. Has covered economic and financial policy in the U.S. capital for 15 years. Previous experience includes roles at The Hill newspaper and The Wall Street Journal. Received a Master’s degree in journalism from Georgetown University, and an undergraduate degree from the University of Notre Dame.
Chris Prentice reports on financial crimes, with a focus on securities enforcement matters. She previously covered commodities markets and trade policy. She has received awards for her work from the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing and the Newswomen’s Club of New York.