Donald Trump says actively considering breaking up big banks

Donald Trump had expressed support on the campaign trail for a '21st-century Glass-Steagall'

US President Donald Trump said he was actively considering breaking up big banks, Bloomberg Television reported on Monday.

Trump's comments could give a push to efforts to revive the Depression-era Glass-Steagall law that separated commercial lending from investment banking. Reviving such a law would require an act by Congress.

"I'm looking at that right now," Trump said on Monday in an interview with Bloomberg News in the Oval Office. "There's some people that want to go back to the old system, right? So we're going to look at that."

While campaigning for president, Trump had expressed support on the campaign trail for a "21st-century Glass-Steagall."

One of Trump's top economic advisers, Gary Cohn, director of the National Economic Council, reiterated Trump's support for the concept during a private meeting with lawmakers on April 6, a White House spokesperson told Reuters.

US stocks sharply pared gains on Monday after Trump's comments and the S&P 500 bank index dropped nearly 1 per cent before rebounding.