Marc Rowan, a contender for what is arguably the most important economic job in the US government, is the CEO of Apollo Global Management, a behemoth in private equity, an industry notorious for its cutthroat, profit-at-all-costs standards.
The 62-year-old executive’s ascent to Donald Trump’s Cabinet could, if he were nominated and confirmed, represent a major win for one of the most powerful (and often despised) sectors of finance.
As Treasury secretary, Rowan would directly oversee the Financial Stability Oversight Council, which is nominally responsible for policing the “nonbank” financial system, including the private equity industry in which he is currently a major player. The Treasury also houses the IRS and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, or OCC, which regulates banks.
More to the point, Rowan, as Treasury secretary, would be able to ensure that those regulatory bodies continue to treat private equity the way they always have, under administrations of both Democrats and Republicans. That is to say, largely left alone.
“The regulation is really not there,” Bill Lazonick, president of the nonprofit Academic-Industry Research Network, said. “You don’t even know what private equity owns —everything is shielded by various types of transactions and corporate structures.”
It’s impossible to know what kind of Treasury secretary Rowan would be, if he’s picked. It’s hardly uncommon for industry leaders to join the government bodies that regulate the companies they previously worked for, and their reputations are, let’s say, mixed.
Read more on Rowan here.
