Trump Orders Regulators to Cut Back Amid Pandemic

The executive order states that agencies should "address this emergency" by rescinding, modifying, waiving or providing exemptions from regulations and other requirements that may "inhibit economic recovery, consistent with applicable law and with protection of the public health and safety, with national and homeland security, and with budgetary priorities and operational feasibility."

Andy Friedman, principal and founder of The Washington Update, told ThinkAdvisor Wednesday that "the order, by its terms, applies to the SEC, bank regulators and other regulators."

Under the order, the agencies should look to provide "exemptions from regulations that may inhibit economic recovery, declining to bring enforcement actions against entities that have acted in good faith, and providing temporary relief from existing enforcement agreements," Friedman said.

However, the order "does not specifically tell agencies how to implement the order. And it is too soon to know what an agency will do," he continued.

Regulators "could give businesses the benefit of the doubt when deciding whether to bring remedial action, and/or pull back on existing enforcing actions, at least temporarily," Friedman said.

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