FRANKFURT: The European Central Bank is concerned that the Trump administration’s plans to loosen bank regulation in the United States will endanger global financial stability, a top official said Wednesday. “I find the most recent proposals by the Department of the Treasury worrying. It looks as if elements of the global reform might be postponed or not even implemented,” ECB supervisory board vice-chair Sabine Lautenschlaeger told a conference in Bonn. “Purely national initiatives will not improve the stability of the financial system, quite the opposite,” she added. Earlier this month, the Department of the Treasury presented a roadmap to less stringent regulations, saying that it represented a “sensible rebalancing” of the rules in response to a stronger economy. Its proposals would see less frequent regulatory stress tests — which measure how banks would weather possible economic shocks — for a smaller number of only the very largest institutions. Published in Daily Times, June 29th, 2017.