On June 25, the five regulators responsible for Section 13 of the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956 (Volcker Rule) approved a set of amendments that modify and clarify the covered fund provisions of the regulations implementing the Volcker Rule. (The five regulators are the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and the Securities and Exchange Commission.) The final amendments are generally the same as those proposed in January of this year.
Continue Reading Volcker Rule Regulators Make Changes to Covered Fund Rules

On January 30, the five regulators responsible for Section 13 of the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956 (the “Volcker Rule”) each approved a set of amendments intended to modify and clarify the covered fund provisions of the regulations implementing the Volcker Rule. (The five regulators are the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission.)
Continue Reading Volcker Rule Regulators Propose Changes to Covered Fund Rules

On August 20, the Board of Directors of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) approved their version of a set of amendments intended to simplify some of the requirements of the regulations implementing Section 13 of the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956 (the “Volcker Rule”), which was enacted as Section 619 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. The Volcker Rule generally prohibits banking entities from engaging in proprietary trading and from owning or controlling hedge funds or private equity funds subject to numerous qualifications and exemptions set forth in the Volcker Rule regulations, which are identical sets of rules adopted by each of the Volcker Rule regulators (the FDIC, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Federal Reserve), the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), and the Securities and Exchange Commission). These final amendments incorporate the responses of the Volcker Rule regulators to the numerous comments they received when they initially proposed a set of amendments in 2018.
Continue Reading FDIC Approves Amendments to the Volcker Rule

On September 4, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, in conjunction with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Treasury, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and Securities and Exchange Commission, extended the comment period on the proposed amendments to the regulations implementing Section 13 of the

On July 17, the Federal Register published proposed changes to the Volcker Rule that were jointly approved by the Federal Reserve Board, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Securities and Exchange Commission. As described in greater detail in the June 1,

On June 4, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission voted to approve a final rule to amend various portions of Part 49 of CFTC Regulations relating to swap data repository indemnification and related matters. The CFTC also voted to approve two rule proposals, including (1) proposed amendments relating to Volcker Rule restrictions on proprietary trading and

On May 24, Public Law No. 115-74 was signed by President Trump. The law, also known as the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief and Consumer Protection Act, has six parts:

  • Title I—Improving Consumer Access to Mortgage Credit
  • Title II—Regulatory Relief and Protecting Consumer Access to Credit
  • Tile III—Protections for Veterans, Consumers and Homeowners
  • Title IV—Tailoring Regulations for Certain Bank Holding Companies
  • Title V—Encouraging Capital Formation
  • Title VI—Protections for Student Borrowers

Continue Reading Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief and Consumer Protection Act

On May 30, the five Federal regulators responsible for the Volcker Rule approved the publication for comment of numerous proposed changes to the rule. The notice of proposed rulemaking, entitled Proposed Revisions to Prohibitions and Restrictions on Proprietary Trading and Certain Interests in, and Relationships With, Hedge Funds and Private Equity Funds, was jointly developed by the Federal Reserve Board, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and the Securities and Exchange Commission. The proposed changes are intended to streamline the rule by eliminating or modifying requirements that are not necessary to effectively implement the statute, without diminishing the safety and soundness of banking entities.
Continue Reading Regulators Propose Changes to Volcker Rule