Marian Lake, head of consumer banking at JPMorgan, talks about Trump, the Fed and 2025

Marian Lake is managed by JPMorgan Chase Bank (JBM) sprawling consumer banking operations, making her one of the most powerful people in the industry.

She too One of the front-runners to succeed CEO Jamie Dimon When his long-time boss decides to stop running the country’s largest bank.

Lake stepped into the spotlight last week at Goldman Sachs (A) Financial Services Conference in Manhattan, Giving investors a bullish update About the bank’s performance in the fourth quarter (investment banking fees will rise by 45%) and 2025 (main revenue source will be $2 billion more than expected).

JP Morgan Chief Executive Officer of Retail and Community Banking She told investors there were “reasons to be optimistic” about 2025, a sentiment echoed by many others in her industry last week as they cheered Trump’s arrival at the White House.

The hope is that lending and deal-making will rise as the new Republican administration relaxes some rules for banks and applies more leniency in approving this type of loan. Corporate merger Which produces huge profits for the giants of Wall Street.

Read more: How do banks make money?

Banks also hope that the new administration will think twice about A A new set of controversial capital rules proposed by top banking regulators This would require lenders to set aside larger buffers for future losses.

Lake, 55, went into more detail about her outlook in a conversation with Yahoo Finance, covering a number of topics top of mind in her industry.

Lake has not been shy in the past about expressing her concerns about pending regulation and legislation that she and others say will hurt banks and their customers.

Along with the proposal that could increase banks’ capital requirements, it cited three specific examples this week of troubling rules or legislation.

One reduces debit card fees, One reduces debit card interchange fees, and the other makes it easier for customers to transfer their personal data between banks.

The day after she spoke, the Biden administration issued another new rule that banks opposed: a $5 cap on bank overdraft fees imposed by the CFPB. This quickly led to a lawsuit from banking lobbyists.

She expects there will be an opportunity with the new administration to reverse some of these proposals.

When it comes to “the onslaught of new regulations,” Lake told Yahoo Finance, “We are optimistic about the opportunities for cooperation between the business community and the new administration.”

Some economists worry that Trump 2.0 policies will be inflationary, adding to ongoing price pressures.

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Lake said the bank shares the public consensus that tariffs and trade policy will have an impact and that Trump’s stance on China will be tougher.

“Our basic argument is that it will have an impact on inflation,” but “it is more of a headwind than a derailment.”

There may be “second-order consequences” in additional costs to consumers and workers.

“But we think those will be more modest.”

Lake appeared optimistic about the economic picture, citing the central bank’s ability to avoid a recession while reducing inflation.

Next Wednesday, the Federal Reserve is expected to cut interest rates for the third straight meeting, as it turns to easing monetary policy while avoiding a recession (for now).

“As we sit here today, we believe the Fed has engineered, at least perhaps, a soft landing,” she told Yahoo Finance.

Read more: What a Fed rate cut means for bank accounts, CDs, loans and credit cards

“If we become more confident in that, and if some of the inflationary pressures or risks to growth are fairly modest, I think we might see a translation of the animal spirit.”

But it expects the longer end of interest rates to remain “fairly firm” through 2025, meaning homeowners may not see much relief in the form of lower borrowing costs on mortgages.

“So, it doesn’t look like mortgage rates will fall meaningfully over the next 12 months, at least. That’s not our central forecast.”

Lake also discussed the massive expansion of JPMorgan’s branch network, which added 150 branches this year.

By the end of October, it had 4,906 brick-and-mortar locations. The bank plans to add 350 more banks by 2027.

The bank currently holds 11.3% of total U.S. deposits after earning about 30 basis points a year on average over the past decade, she said.

“It would be arrogant to assume we can accelerate (this growth), but we will if we can.”

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