Financial firms slash compliance headcount

Financial institutions have begun to cut compliance headcount for the first time since the economic crisis, according to Bloomberg.

One big question is if the decrease is more due to automation or expected enforcement reduction under Trump's Securities and Exchange Commission — for example, the President supports a House bill that would end private equity registration, thus making fraud extremely difficult to uncover. It's most likely a bit of both:

"While it is impossible to determine any one specific driver of this rollback, it is likely that as the volumes of fines levied in the sector abates—after reaching a staggering cumulative total of $321 billion—senior management may see an opportunity to reallocate resources elsewhere."