But in an era of growing social and racial unrest, such as income inequality, many bankers are voting outside their wallets in the belief that Trump is stifling those divisions, industry experts say. Many in the sector embrace Biden’s approach to race management, foreign affairs and other areas where its tone is more in line with the leaders of global financial institutions.
“These contributions speak to the deep unrest Democrats and many independents have with national policies on personal priorities such as equality, citizenship and constitutionality,” said managing partner Karen Financialou, Federal Financial Analytics, who advises bankers on policy. The bankers, she said, “express themselves as the priorities of their business as they make contributions.”
Admittedly, Biden is also a well-known entity for Wall Street and benefits from its long time close to the financial sector. While representing Delaware in the Senate, he supported bankruptcy legislation that made it more difficult for consumers to escape credit card debt. More recently, he drew controversy for telling wealthy donors to a 2019 lender that “no one will change their standard of living, nothing would fundamentally change” for them.
And employees at the megabanks also showed a preference for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton over Trump in 2016 – they outraised him by more than 10 to 1 among the same companies. But they put their money behind Republican Mitt Romney when he ran against President Barack Obama and Biden in 2012.
The figures, aggregated by the Center for Responsive Policy, include not only high-profile executives but also other staff at the sprawling, international corporations. They underscore an opinion in the banking sector that Biden would rule as moderate despite the influence of Wall Street watchdogs like sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.).
The contributions analyzed for this story came from individual donors at the banks and were not directed by the companies themselves, who serve separate political action committees that help fund congressional campaigns.
The wave of contributions arose when Biden, who will accept the Democratic presidency nomination during the party’s convention next week, takes the lead over Trump in national and battle-torn statehoods.
Trump campaign spokeswoman Samantha Zager said the president is counting on normal voters to win re-election.
“President Trump’s campaign is being encouraged by all Americans who have benefited from his courageous leadership,” she said. “Joe Biden has Big Tech, Big Pharma and Big Banks in his pocket, and the Trump campaign still outraised him in July – not to mention that we really have voter enthusiasm in our corner. President Trump will continue to prioritize hard-working Americans, while Joe Biden looks at himself. “
Jason Pye, vice president of legislative affairs at FreedomWorks, a conservative group, had another statement to make Biden’s popularity with bankers: “It’s no secret that large corporations, including large financial institutions, tend to benefit from big government policies. “They are able to isolate themselves to some degree of regulation because they can pay the cost of compliance that leaves smaller institutions in the cold.”
Several senior executives at the big banks have contributed money to Biden’s campaign, including Goldman Sachs CFO Stephen Scherr and JPMorgan general counsel Stacey Friedman. Goldman Sachs Japan Vice President Kathy Matsui contributed $ 54,600 to the Biden Victory Fund, Biden’s joint fundraising operation with the Democratic National Committee. Morgan Stanley Vice President Thomas Nides and Wells Fargo Vice President of Public Affairs Bill Daley – both former Obama administration officials – have also contributed to Biden’s campaign.
While Biden has refrained from demonizing Wall Street like Warren and some other Democrats, he has promised to raise taxes on major financial institutions and other corporations, after Trump lowered the rate to 21 percent from 35 percent in 2017, and helped raise it of 44 percent in profits from the banking industry in 2018. That is the top concern of banking lobbyists who begin to play how Washington would approach the sector if Democrats regained power.
However, Paul Thornell, former manager of federal government affairs at Citigroup, said bank executives are not only focused on issues such as tax policy when it comes to showing their support for a candidate.
“They look at character and how these two behave as leaders,” said Thornell, now a lead at government relations firm Mehlman Castagnetti Rosen & Thomas. ‘They look at the issues that Trump has decided to bring himself into line with the issues that he thinks Biden would vote for, which are likely to be more in line with where they are personally, the brand and the reputation of their companies and the problems their employees face about it. ”
However, any perceived sociability between Biden and bankers is a potential political issue, as the former vice president has to deal with pressure from progressives to start big business. One Biden official said teachers are the top professionals donating to his campaign.
“Wall Street bankers and hedge fund managers did not build this country – the US middle class did,” a Biden spokesman said. “Donald Trump has turned his back on families struggling to get through his entire presidency, by passing a multibillion-dollar tax return to the rich and deepening manufacturing into a recession, while creating new incentives for outsourcing of American jobs – while Joe Biden is running to make sure our economy deserves work, not just wealth, and that’s why his campaign is driven by small donations of grassroots roses. “
Indeed, a Biden administration is likely to pursue stricter banking regulation than Trump has, although it is not expected to be the kind of maritime change that took place under Obama. At the time, the world economy was shaken by a financial crisis caused by Wall Street, and Democrats responded by challenging banking regulations with the 2010 Dodd-Frank Landmark Act.
Now, bank lobbyists are saying the recent economic proposals of the Biden campaign, including those released in collaboration with sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Have not been so surprising or threatening.
Bank representatives see many problems where they can have constructive talks with Democrats. They include responding to climate change, improving business diversity and supporting small business.
Large banks have also joined the fight against Big Tech through lobbying to stop technology companies from getting bank charters. Lobbyists expect Democrats to put more pressure on private equity firms than big banks, which public enemy no. 1 were when Biden became vice president in 2009.
The dynamic was evident last month when Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) – who proposed breaking up banks after the 2008 crisis – spoke about a Goldman Sachs host call Zoom commemorating the graduation of entrepreneurs of the company of “10,000 small businesses” “Program. Brown, who would likely chair the Senate Banking Committee if Democrats win the Senate back, appeared with Goldman CEO David Solomon.
Brown shrugged for Solomon to buy shares that the bank pursued through the Trump tax cuts, but he also praised the efforts for small business in Ohio.
“I hope you will follow through with a commitment to invest more of your, I would say, immense resources in the real economy and communities that are often overlooked by Wall Street,” Brown said. “This is an example of what Goldman does.”
Ian Katz, CEO of Capital Alpha Partners, said there are competing forces at play when it comes to how the banking sector views Biden. Biden and his regulators would generally prefer stricter regulation. But Trump has been harder for banks to predict because of his populist leanings.
“There’s also the possibility that while bankers prefer Trump over issues that affect their sector, they may prefer Biden on most other things,” Katz said. “If that’s the case, they could turn to Biden because they like him most things, and although he may be less friendly than Trump is to banks, they do not think he will be dangerously unfriendly. So if they take everything into account, they may turn to Biden. ”
