The US President has taken steps to roll back the most sweeping piece of regulation to be imposed on the wealth management and financial services industries since the 1930s.

(Updates with industry reaction, background.)

US President Donald Trump will order a sweeping review of the Dodd-Frank Act rules, a White House official has said, signing an executive action designed to roll back the most wide-reaching financial regulatory system since the reform that followed the Great Depression. 

Trump will also halt another regulation introduced by former President Barack Obama known as the fiduciary rule, which requires advisors on retirement accounts to work in the best interests of their clients. The president's order will give the new administration time to review the change. 

The president's moves are designed to outline the Trump administration's approach to financial markets, which favors strongly deregulation and emphasizes opening up investor options, said the White House official, who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity. 

The Dodd-Frank Act was enacted in 2010 in response to the financial tsunami of 2008. Designed to act as a safety net in the event of a financial meltdown, it drastically changed the landscape of the US financial regulatory environment and eclipses almost every part of the US' financial services industry. 

The orders are the most aggressive steps taken by Trump to date to lessen regulatory burden on the financial services industry and come after he assigned numerous industry veterans to his revamped administration. The proposals are likely to be slammed by opposition Democrats who claim that Trump is determined to unwind changes designed to protect the average investor through to the global banking system. 

President Trump could potentially face a backlash from some of his own supporters, whose cynicism of large institutions and the financial industry helped fuel the populist anger that landed him at the helm of the White House. 

A number of wealth management organizations have already changed their charging policies in anticipation of the DoL Fiduciary Rule coming into effect. In October last year,  Morgan Stanley said its wealth management clients can if they wish continue to pay commissions for advisors, putting it on a different track to rival Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Morgan Stanley said clients can also choose the option of paying a fee based on the value of account assets. Broker-dealers such as Morgan Stanley have argued that the rule, while meeting certain requirements, should not deprive clients who may remain comfortable with paying commissions as in the past. Earlier in October last year, Bank of America said it was getting rid of IRAs that charge investors per transaction; instead, clients who want such an account must pay a fee calculated on a share of their assets.

Asked about the situation last week and Trump's actions, Morgan Stanley Wealth Management told this publication: “We will continue to move forward with many of the initiatives we have underway, reflecting our ongoing commitment to raising the standard of care we provide our retirement and non-retirement clients."