On December 16, the Financial Associated Press reported (Editor: Huang Junzhi) that a JPMorgan executive recently expressed that investors have reasons to be optimistic about 2025 and commented on current hot topics, including "Trump 2.0" and the prospects of interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve.

Marianne Lake is in charge of JPMorgan's large Consumer Business, making her one of the most likely candidates to take over from "Wall Street's king," JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon, to manage the largest bank in the USA.

"Trump 2.0"

Some economists are concerned that the "Trump 2.0" policy will bring back inflation and exacerbate ongoing price pressures. Lake stated that JPMorgan agrees with the general consensus in the market that tariffs and trade policies will have some impact.

"Our core view is that it will have an impact on inflation. But it is more like a headwind rather than an obstacle," she added.

Lake also mentioned that additional costs for consumers and employment may have "secondary consequences."

"But we believe that the growth of these (additional costs) will be more moderate," she said.

Federal Reserve and the Economy

Lael Brainard is optimistic about the economic outlook and stated that the Federal Reserve has the capability to lower inflation while avoiding a recession.

She anticipates that the Federal Reserve will cut rates for the third consecutive time at the meeting on Wednesday this week, shifting towards a more accommodative MMF policy while (so far) avoiding a recession.

She stated in an interview: "We are sitting here today, believing that the Federal Reserve is at least likely to achievepossibility of a soft landing,。”

"If we grow increasingly confident about this, if some inflationary pressures or growth risks are somewhat mild, then I think you might see a transformation of animal spirits," she added.

But she expects that by 2025, longer-term interest rates will "remain stable to some extent", which means that homeowners might not see a significant relief in mortgage repayment pressures from lowering borrowing costs.

Therefore, it appears that mortgage rates will not significantly decline in the future, you know, at least not in the next 12 months. This is not our fundamental expectation.” she said.

Bank regulation.

The CEO of Consumer and Community Banking told investors that there is reason to be optimistic about 2025, and during the past week, many others in her Industry echoed the same sentiment while celebrating Trump's impending move into the White House.

Wall Street hopes that the newly installed Republican government will loosen some regulations on Banks and approve mergers that bring huge profits to Wall Street giants, leading to an increase in loans and Trade. They also hope that the new government will think twice about a whole new set of controversial capital rules that require lenders to set aside larger buffers for future losses.

Lake also expressed concern about this, believing that these regulations and legislation will harm Banks and their customers. Aside from the proposal that may increase Banks’ capital requirements, she listed three specific examples of concerning rules or legislation: one is to reduce debit card fees, another is to lower interchange fees for debit cards, and the third is to simplify the process for customers to transfer personal data between Banks.

Debit card interchange fees refer to a portion of the fee that merchants pay to acquiring institutions when making card purchases; this portion is paid to the issuing institution and is commonly referred to as interchange fees.

She does hope the new government has the opportunity to reverse some of these proposals. When discussing the impact of "new regulatory constraints," she said, "We are optimistic about the opportunities for collaboration between the business community and the new government."