FT

Weaker rules can mean: riskier lending, less capital buffers, higher chance of bank failures

Everyday impact: lost jobs, frozen savings, taxpayer bailouts

“We’ve seen this movie before.”

Governments deployed trillions in real capital and put tens of trillions more at risk to stabilise the banking system after the 2008 crisis.

“Loosening bank rules is like removing brakes from a car because you haven’t crashed recently.” “It’s dismantling the fire alarms because the building hasn’t burned down in a while.”

Banks take more risk → profits stay private

When things go wrong → losses get socialised -/-passed onto taxpayers

“Why should ordinary taxpayers backstop risks they didn’t take?”

They shouldn’t.

Bank profits are now back to—or above—pre-2008 highs But that’s happening after a decade of tighter regulation

Banks are already highly profitable with stronger rules in place.

Why loosen regulation now, at the top of the profit cycle?

Key hard numbers ChatGPT :

Around $1.1 trillion global net income in 2023  Around $1.3–1.4 trillion across major banks in 2024 -2025