Jeb Bush: Banking Regulations Are Stifling Economic Growth

Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush told top Wall Street executives today that new banking regulations are stifling economic growth by crimping firms’ ability to lend money and raise capital.

“For larger banks, the rules are so complicated that it’ll take five years to put them in place,” Bush said today in New York at the annual meeting of the Securities Industry & Financial Markets Association. For smaller banks, the complexities and uncertainties surrounding new rules can be a “deal-killer completely,” he said.

Bush, 60, the younger brother of former President George W. Bush and son of former President George H.W. Bush, is a potential candidate for the office in 2016. A Quinnipiac University national poll released last month showed Jeb Bush receiving 11 percent support in the Republican field, trailing Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and Senator Marco Rubio of Florida.

U.S. banks, “while having made some terrible and costly decisions in the past,” now are doing business more responsibly, Bush said.

Sifma, Wall Street’s largest lobbying group, is sponsoring its annual meeting at the Marriott Marquis hotel in Times Square. Former President Bill Clinton, a Democrat, addressed guests yesterday. Speakers today include Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Chief Executive Officer Lloyd C. Blankfein and BlackRock Inc. CEO Laurence D. Fink.