washington<u+2014> hillary clinton <u+2019>s lead in presidential-election polls has wall street increasingly focused on the battle for control of congress<u+2014>and bracing for a less friendly environment if democrats retake the senate and give new clout to the party<u+2019>s left wing. <u+201c>it<u+2019>s not hillary clinton we are worried about. it<u+2019>s the influence that the liberals have on her,<u+201d> said richard hunt, president and chief executive of the consumer bankers association trade group.<u+00a0>he cited democrats on the senate banking committee, particularly elizabeth warren of massachusetts, who has regularly put the financial industry on the defensive, most recently during hearings over wells fargo & co.<u+2019>s scandal. mrs. clinton, a former new york senator, is generally seen as relatively friendly to big banks, most prominently displayed in purported transcripts released by wikileaks of a trio of paid private speeches she gave to goldman sachs group inc. in 2013. but mrs. clinton has taken an increasingly hard line against big banks during this year<u+2019>s campaign, first as she fended off a primary challenge from vermont sen. bernie sanders and more recently in enlisting ms. warren, a popular figure on the left, for help rallying democratic base voters. mrs. clinton alarmed some financial industry officials with her comments during a campaign event with ms. warren on monday , when she praised the senator for working <u+201c>to make sure that wall street never wrecks main street again.<u+201d> mrs. clinton continued: <u+201c>i am so looking forward to working with her to rewrite the rules of our economy.<u+201d> ms. warren campaigned for mrs. clinton again<u+00a0>tuesday<u+00a0>and wednesday. ms. warren, whose office didn<u+2019>t respond to requests for an interview, could exert influence through several channels. one is to push mrs. clinton, if she wins, to embrace her progressive agenda. a democratic senate majority, which it most recently had until the end of 2014, would give more power to leverage her clout in the senate banking committee, where she is a junior member but often dominates deliberations. <u+201c>i am sure there would be more aggressive investigations, and possible witch hunts,<u+201d> said mr. hunt, of the consumer bankers association. the panel also has significant influence with its ability to call bankers and regulators to testify at hearings, and its role vetting white house nominees. ms. warren has made clear she objects to appointments of people she considers insufficiently independent from wall street to key government positions. ms. warren isn<u+2019>t the only senator worrying financial lobbyists. ohio sen. sherrod brown, a favorite of labor unions, would likely chair the banking committee if democrats win the seats needed to take control of the chamber , a prospect election handicappers consider a strong possibility. some political analysts think centrist democrats on the panel, like jon tester of montana and heidi heitkamp of north dakota, may take a more populist anti-banking stance as they prepare for re-election in 2018. mr. brown and ms. warren could face some pushback from fellow democrats. new york sen. charles schumer, who is closer to the financial industry, would be in line to become majority leader, with ultimate control over the legislative agenda. another centrist democrat on the banking committee, virginia<u+2019>s mark warner, told a wall street journal conference last week that he disagreed with ms. warren<u+2019>s stance on financial policy nominees. <u+201c>to take one broad brush and say, per se, anyone that actually has worked in the intricacies of an industry that is extraordinarily complex can<u+2019>t serve the public, i don<u+2019>t agree with,<u+201d> he said. republicans, who generally oppose new bank regulations, are also seen as likely to hold on to the house and could stop any new financial rules approved by the senate. among ms. warren<u+2019>s policy priorities: ensuring the implementation of the current administration<u+2019>s plan to overhaul retirement advice ; protecting the consumer financial protection bureau, the five-year-old watchdog agency she helped create that has been under attack from industry and republicans; and separating operations of retail banking from investment banking by restoring the glass-steagall act, a 1933 law repealed in 1999 during the administration of mrs. clinton<u+2019>s husband, bill clinton. mrs. clinton has supported many, but not all, of ms. warren<u+2019>s policies. while she has talked about raising costs for megabanks, the presidential candidate has stopped short of embracing glass-steagall, even though she agreed with mr. sanders to include a call for its restoration in the july party convention<u+2019>s platform. the clinton camp<u+2019>s concern about ms. warren<u+2019>s banking views emerged in emails allegedly obtained from the account of clinton campaign chairman john podesta and released by wikileaks . in one note, mandy grunwald, a top clinton adviser, said she was worried that the campaign would <u+201c>antagonize and activate<u+201d> ms. warren if it opposed a new glass-steagall. clinton campaign officials have declined to confirm the authenticity of the goldman speeches or the emails posted by wikileaks. this fall<u+2019>s scandal over wells fargo<u+2019>s sales practices has served as a showcase for ms. warren. using pointed tactics and forceful rhetoric, she successfully pressured the bank<u+2019>s board to recoup compensation paid to key executives and helped push ceo john stumpf to give up his job. along the way, she mobilized the support of other lawmakers and cajoled<u+00a0>administration officials into taking more action against the bank. <u+201c>some of the best tv you can see is on c-span when elizabeth is going after a bank executive or a regulator,<u+201d> mrs. clinton said at<u+00a0>monday<u+2019>s<u+00a0>rally. write to yuka hayashi at yuka.hayashi@wsj.com corrections & amplifications: sen. elizabeth warren objects to appointments of people she considers insufficiently independent from wall street to key government positions. an earlier version of the article incorrectly stated she objects to any policy makers with close industry ties. (oct. 27)
wall street braces for new democratic muscle in the senate - wsj
yuka hayashi