Regulators are shooting to have the Volcker Rule finalized by the end of the year, the acting chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) said Friday.
"That's the intention — to try to get it done," Martin Gruenberg said when asked whether he thought regulators could complete the rule implementing the Dodd-Frank Act's ban on proprietary trading by banks before January 1, 2013. "We will see."
He made the remarks to reporters after his speech at ASR sister publication American Banker's Regulatory Symposium in Washington.
If they are successful, it would advance one of the most controversial provisions of the reform law. The rule was named after former Federal Reserve Board Chairman Paul Volcker, who first recommended the trading ban.
The Volcker Rule, which restricts banks' ability to trade for their own accounts,
After receiving a barrage of critical comment letters earlier this year from ABS issuers, underwriters and investors alike, regulators announced that the industry would not have to be in compliance with the Volcker Rule by the July deadline set by Dodd-Frank. Instead, compliance has been delayed to July 2014, when the rule must be fully implemented.
Aside from Volcker, regulators are also rying to address concerns by community banks about a proposal to implement the Basel III capital accord.
"Our intention here is to make this proposed rulemaking process as clear and as transparent as we can," Gruenberg said.
