Bloomberg reports that US President-elect Donald Trump is "poised" to name finance professor Michael Faulkender as Deputy Treasury Secretary. If confirmed, he would serve as number two in the department under Scott Bessent, who is on Capitol Hill today meeting lawmakers. The nomination, if formalised, is consistent with Trump's strategy of selecting experienced operators to run agencies related to his economic and trade agenda. 

• Bloomberg notes that Faulkender, "brings a rare mix of practical experience, advocacy and academic credentials to the position." He served in the Treasury Department during the first Trump administration, "finishing as a Senate-confirmed assistant secretary for economic policy." During that period he oversaw stimulus programmes to alleviate the COVID-19 pandemic but has since been critical of President Joe Biden's additional stimulus, including the American Rescue Plan.
• Faulkender wrote in a WSJ op-ed in March 2023 that, "Stress tests have made the banking system less varied and resilient, particularly to regulatory errors," citing the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank as "a case in point."
• Faulkender concluded: "The solution is to scrap Dodd-Frank’s micromanagement of banks and simply require greater capital levels. That would discourage individual banks from taking on excessive risk without making the entire system fragile."