WASHINGTON — Four federal regulators on Friday announced they would give commenters an additional month to weigh in on sweeping restrictions to banks' proprietary trading vehicles.
Institutions now have until Feb. 13 to comment on the agencies' fall proposal for implementing the so-called "Volcker Rule", a key section of the Dodd-Frank Act. The provision — named for former Federal Reserve Board Chairman Paul Volcker, who originated the idea — severely limits the ability of banks and other financial companies to do their own trading or be affiliated with hedge funds and private-equity groups. The comment period was originally going to end Jan. 13.
The roughly 300-page proposal, which included dozens of questions seeking industry feedback, has been significantly criticized for its complexity.
The decision to extend the comment period came just one day after House lawmakers, mostly Republicans, in a letter called on the agencies to provide more time. They also urged regulators to extend the implementation deadline for the new rules, now set for July 2012.
"The comment period was extended as part of a coordinated interagency effort to allow interested persons more time to analyze the issues and prepare their comments," the Federal Reserve Board, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and the Securities and Exchange Commission said in a joint statement Friday.
