Just two months remain before the Volcker Rule goes into effect on July 21, and ABA will host a conference call on Wednesday, May 27, to allow bankers to discuss exam preparedness and Volcker-specific compliance issues. Over the past year and a half since the rule was finalized, ABA has aggressively and successfully engaged to reduce the rule’s impact on members—especially community banks, whose operations were not intended to be targeted by Volcker.
For example, in December 2013, ABA sued the regulators over a provision in the rule that would require massive and unnecessary writedowns on banks’ holdings of trust preferred securities in collateralized debt obligations, which quickly led to substantial regulatory relief. ABA has also pressed for extensions on bank holdings of CLOs and illiquid funds, as well as bank director and employee holdings of covered funds, which led to the Federal Reserve granting two-year extensions of the effective date for both types of covered funds.
ABA supports additional legislative proposals to curb the Volcker Rule’s reach and continues to engage with regulators to limit burdens associated with the rule. To learn more, or to participate in the May 27 conference call, contact ABA’s Tim Keehan.
