Donald J. Trump is now the 45th president of the United States of America. If early developments from his transition team and confirmation hearings for his cabinet appointees are any indication, he is eager to get to work on a relatively broad and ambitious agenda.

While many expect that his priorities will likely center around jobs and immigration policy, Trump is a businessman, so we can bet that establishing a pro-business environment through reducing regulation will rank highly as well.

While a change in financial regulatory policy could have an important impact on our business in years to come, it’s unclear just how these impacts might be felt at the HECM level.

Steve Mnuchin

Trump has picked his campaign finance chairman, Steve Mnuchin, as his nominee for treasury secretary. The Wall Street banker spent 17 years at Goldman Sachs, where he was a partner, and also ran a series of eclectic businesses including a West Coast consumer bank and his own hedge fund, Dune Capital Management.

Over the years, Mnuchin has contributed to both Republican and Democratic candidates, including Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. He has also been a financier of high-profile movies, including Suicide Squad, American Sniper and Mad Max: Fury Road.

During his five-hour confirmation hearing, Mnuchin was pressed on a number of issues, including tax reform, his own financial disclosures and the foreclosure practices of OneWest during his tenure. Mnuchin also reversed his previous stance on privatizing mortgage lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, noting instead that they had been “well run without creating risk to the government” and shifting the conversation to the broader need for housing finance reform.

Ben Carson

Like Mnuchin, Trump’s pick to run HUD has not spent a career in Washington, D.C. Dr. Carson grew up on food stamps in southwest Detroit, later becoming the director of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins University at the age of 33. Carson’s autobiography, Gifted Hands, became a movie in 2009 and then-President George W. Bush honored Carson with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Carson was reportedly notified he was a recipient of the award while performing a seven-hour surgery.

Carson’s confirmation hearing covered a number of topics, including mortgage reform, fair housing and the recently announced cut to FHA mortgage insurance premiums—which was reversed less than an hour after President Trump was sworn in.

Jeb Hensarling

One of the most influential elected officials in the HECM arena is Texas Congressman Jeb Hensarling. Mr. Hensarling is the sitting chairman of the all-important House Financial Services Committee, which has jurisdiction over FHA legislation.

He is also a close friend of Mike Pence, and was a perpetual presence on the campaign trail with the new vice president. Adding to his influence, Trump personally met with the Texas congressman last summer to discuss an alternative to Dodd-Frank.

Given his friendship with Pence, which dates back nearly 15 years, Hensarling may have a range of options for leadership roles over the next few years. While he has not commented on what he is interested in, he is poised to become a trusted conduit between the White House and the House GOP.

In addition to the influence of these gentlemen, there are also a number of environmental factors at play that could influence the HECM trajectory. These include:

Reduced Regulations: This is the one area where the Trump campaign provided the most direction on what we might expect. Trump’s transition team has stated that it would like to see a full repeal of the Dodd-Frank law, which would include the abolishment of the CFPB.

The first step in replacing the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial overhaul law is already underway in Congress. In September, the Financial CHOICE Act (drafted primarily by Hensarling) was passed out of the House Financial Services Committee to replace Dodd-Frank with a “pro-growth, pro-consumer” alternative that would bring significant reforms to the CFPB, and much more.

In addition to the end of concentration of power within the CFPB, the Republican plan would also establish an independent, Senate-confirmed inspector general for the commission and would require significant capitalization requirements for banks.

FHA & GSE Reform: Chairman Hensarling may have allies in and around 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue who support his longing to restructure Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and eliminate additional government guarantees of mortgage loans. This would, in part, revolutionize mortgage lending in America, pushing the government further from the mortgage business. Reforming the GSEs and creating a permanent source of liquidity for the mortgage lending industry would be good for everyone, but the devil is in the details.

Higher Rates: Higher interest rates were already in motion before Trump was elected, but the upward trend accelerated in the months following the election. Legislators and everyday Americans are bracing for continued higher rates in the coming years, which is already being felt in mortgage applications.

What Now?

So how does all of this impact HECMs? The short answer is, we just don’t know yet.

We do know that the 115th Congress would be remiss to support a unilateral policy that would harm homeowners, especially seniors. We also know that there are 10,000 Americans aging into retirement every day.

Given these things, it’s fair to expect that HECMs will be a more significant piece of the overall housing conversation and we all have a role to play in ensuring that seniors can access reliable financing to support their golden years.