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WASHINGTON, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Wall Street regulators have imposed far lower penalties in the first six months of this year compared with the same period in 2016, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis published on Monday.

Penalties imposed on firms and individuals by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority in the first half of 2017 amounted to 489 million U.S. dollars, about 66 percent lower than 1.4-billion-dollar fines in the first half of 2016, the Journal reported.

That put Wall Street regulators on track for the lowest annual level of fines since at least 2010, according to the Journal.

The rapid drop in fines comes after the Trump administration prepares to roll back some tough financial regulations during the Obama administration.

"Lawyers who defend financial cases said a shift to a business-friendly stance at regulatory agencies in the Trump administration is one of several reasons for the decrease," the report said, adding other factors include delays resulting from the change in administrations and the winding down of cases from the financial crisis.

Meanwhile, Wall Street, including organizations like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Financial Services Institute, is lobbying to further reduce the size of financial penalties, the Journal said.

But critics have warned that the United States should not ignore the lessons from the recent financial crisis in 2008 that hit the global economy hard, as financial deregulation could sow the seeds of the next financial crisis.