Volcker Rule
Entry in progress—B.P.
Paul Volcker
Wikipedia: Volcker Rule
The Volcker Rule is a specific section of the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act originally proposed by American economist and former United States Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker to restrict United States banks from making certain kinds of speculative investments that do not benefit their customers. Volcker argued that such speculative activity played a key role in the financial crisis of 2007–2010. The rule is often referred to as a ban on proprietary trading by commercial banks, whereby deposits are used to trade on the bank’s own accounts, although a number of exceptions to this ban were included in the Dodd-Frank law. The rule’s provisions were scheduled to be implemented as a part of Dodd-Frank on July 21, 2012, with preceding ramifications, but were delayed. The necessary agencies have approved regulations implementing the rule, which is scheduled to go into effect April 1, 2014.
Background
Volcker was appointed by President Barack Obama as the chair of the President’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board on February 6, 2009. President Obama created the board to advise the Obama Administration on economic recovery matters. Volcker argued vigorously that since a functioning commercial banking system is essential to the stability of the entire financial system, for banks to engage in high-risk speculation created an unacceptable level of systemic risk. He also argued that the vast increase in the use of derivatives, designed to mitigate risk in the system, had produced exactly the opposite effect.
Proposal
The Volcker Rule was first publicly endorsed by President Obama on January 21, 2010. The proposal specifically prohibits a bank or institution that owns a bank from engaging in proprietary trading that is not at the behest of its clients, and from owning or investing in a hedge fund or private equity fund, and also limits the liabilities that the largest banks can hold. Under discussion is the possibility of restrictions on the way market-making activities are compensated; traders would be paid on the basis of the spread of the transactions rather than any profit that the trader made for the client.
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On December 10, 2013, the Volcker Rule was approved by all five of the necessary financial regulatory agencies. It is set to go into effect April 1, 2014.
Twitter
Rick Sanchez
@RickSanchezTV
frp “hey rick line” 877-742-5751… obama just introduced “volcker rule”... says if the banks want to fight, so be it.
10:46 AM - 21 Jan 10
Twitter
Mark Knoller
@markknoller
Obama naming the proposal: “the Volcker Rule,” for the former Fed Chmn Paul Volcker who chairs O’s Economic Rrecovery Advisory Board.
10:51 AM - 21 Jan 10
New York (NY) Times—Dealbook
JANUARY 21, 2010, 12:15 PM
Obama Moves to Limit ‘Reckless Risks’ of Banks
BY DEALBOOK
Declaring that huge banks had nearly brought down the economy by taking “huge, reckless risks in pursuit of profits,” President Obama proposed legislation on Thursday to limit the scope and size of large financial institutions, The New York Times’s Sewell Chan reports from Washington.
The changes would prohibit bank holding companies from owning, investing in or sponsoring hedge fund or private equity funds or engaging in proprietary trading — what Mr. Obama called the Volcker Rule, in recognition of the former Federal Reserve chairman, Paul A. Volcker, who has championed the restriction.
USA Today
i>Obama hails new Volcker Rule
THE OVAL
David Jackson, USA TODAY 2:47 p.m. EST December 10, 2013
President Obama is praising the so-called Volcker Rule, a new regulation “that makes sure big banks can’t make risky bets with their customer’s deposits.”
In a written statement, Obama said: “Our financial system will be safer and the American people are more secure because we fought to include this protection in the law.”