Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd said Monday he would consider adopting an amendment from moderate Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins to regulatory reform legislation that is intended to strengthen the bill's capital standards.
The Collins amendment would direct federal regulators to impose minimum leverage and risk-based capital requirements on banks, bank holding companies and nonbank financial companies. It would require that the regulators use a ratio of Tier 1 capital to risk-adjusted assets and ensure that the standards that apply to financial institutions of more than $250 billion of assets are equivalent to those that apply to smaller banks.
Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairman Sheila Bair said in a letter last week that she strongly supports the amendment.
Dodd spoke in favor of its adoption on the Senate floor Monday.
"We need to have better leverage and better capital standards," he said. "I thank her for this, and over the next day or so let's see if we can take [a] look at your amendment and adopt it."
