President Trump Mulls Breaking Up The Big Banks: Report

WASHINGTON, DC — President Trump is considering breaking up the major American banks by reinstating rules like the Glass-Steagall law that separated traditional banking activities with more risky lending operations, he told Bloomberg News during an interview Monday. The report of the comments briefly shocked the market traders, though stocks then recovered.

“I’m looking at that right now,” Trump said when asked about the Depression-era law that was effectively undone in 1999. “There’s some people that want to go back to the old system, right? So we’re going to look at that.”

Later, in the daily press briefing, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said, "We're looking at a 21st century Glass-Steagall. That shouldn't be a surprise to anybody."

Many argue that the weakening of Glass-Steagall was a major contributor to the financial crisis in 2008, though this claim is disputed. Others argue that many of the most vulnerable and strategically important firms that fell as a result of the crisis, such as Bear Stearns, AIG and Washington Mutual, were not covered by the old system.

Read the full interview at Bloomberg.

As a report of the comments was published, the stock market dropped briefly but quickly rebounded:

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