Regulators adopt final Volcker rule limits on bank trading

[mucifer]

Government regulators ushered in a new era of oversight Tuesday aimed at reining in Wall Street risk-taking, voting to prevent big banks from trading for their own benefit.

The “Volcker rule,” named after former Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker, also bars banks from owning hedge funds and private-equity funds. The centerpiece of the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial overhaul law took three years to complete as government infighting and intense lobbying by banks slowed the process.

“Our financial system will be safer and the American people are more secure because we fought to include this protection in the law,” President Obama said in a statement.

Lawmakers devised the measure to prevent banks with government backstops such as deposit insurance from making risky trades for their own benefit, arguing that the bets could endanger taxpayers. The challenge for regulators has been restricting such proprietary trading without impeding acceptable practices, such as firms trading on behalf of clients as market-makers or hedging their risk against fluctuations in interest rates.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/regulators-release-final-volcker-rule-limits-on-bank-trading/2013/12/10/f0d471ce-619f-11e3-8beb-3f9a9942850f_story.html

Finally, something that will hopefully limit some of the out of control behaviors of these big banks.

[JDPriestly]

1. This is great news! K&R.

[think]

2. Indeed. /nt

[nikto]

3. Hold your horses...

I'd like to get a substantive comparison between the Volcker Rule and Glass-Steagall.

Are they really equivalent?

Is the Volcker Rule in any way less restrictive than G-S was?

I'd just like to know if the Volcker Rule has any loopholes in it before I start cheering.

[Enthusiast]

4. This is something, at least.

Of course Republicans characterized the Volcker Rule as intrusive government regulation.

[freshwest]

5. K&R. The opposition has been bare knuckled. Glad progress is being made. n/t

[Egalitarian Thug]

6. I hope you're not holding your breath. This compromised half measure is going to

do nothing more than inconvenience the parasites for a few days while they put together their rules to get around it. When we made the Too Big To Fail Banks even bigger, we also lost the last chance we had to rein these parasites in.

But don't worry, they will all be just as surprised when they crash the economy again as they were the previous times.