US President Donald Trump on Friday ordered a review of key reforms enacted after the 2008 financial crisis, in the first step towards scaling back toughened regulations on the banking industry.

"Today we are signing core principles for regulating the United States financial system," Trump said in the Oval Office as he signed two executive orders aimed at scrapping parts of the so-called Dodd-Frank law.

The 2010 law aimed to curb the actions of the finance sector that led to the "Great Recession," but critics claim it created red tape that stifles the industry.