Volcker Rule Unity Is Implementation Aim of Regulator Group
By Cheyenne Hopkins and Jesse Hamilton
U.S. regulators implementing Volcker Rule curbs on banks’ trading have formed an interagency group to coordinate their efforts and reduce chances for companies to play for advantage by exploiting differences. Top officials from the Federal Reserve, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and three other agencies outlined plans for the group in statements at a House Financial Services Committee hearing in Washington today. The regulators are testifying amid criticism from Republican committee members that the rule adopted Dec. 10 will stunt economic growth and job creation. “This interagency group will be instrumental in coordinating the agencies’ interpretations and implementation of the final rule on an ongoing basis,” Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Mary Jo White said in her remarks. She is appearing at the hearing alongside Fed Governor Daniel Tarullo, FDIC Chairman Martin Gruenberg, Comptroller of the CurrencyThomas Curry and Mark Wetjen, acting chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Formation of the regulators’ group, which held its first meeting Jan. 23, is a response to complaints from industry groups and lawmakers over the complexity of the rule itself and potential inconsistencies among the five agencies responsible for the Dodd-Frank Act measure. “To expect a coherent coordinated implementation and enforcement process is to expect the impossible,” Karen Shaw Petrou, managing partner of Washington-based research firm Federal Financial Analytics Inc., said in an interview yesterday. Falling back on an interagency group “is the best they can do.”
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/print/2014-02-04/volcker-rule-unity-is-implementation-goal-of-interagency-group.html