WASHINGTON Federal regulators have indefinitely postponed the release of a rule that would revise the capital structure of the Federal Home Loan Bank System, in order to give the industry more time to prepare comments.
The Federal Housing Finance Board voted unanimously Tuesday to extend the comment period to Nov. 20. The board said it had received numerous complaints from banking associations, the Home Loan banks, and members of the system that they could not adequately weigh in on the complex rule by the original Oct. 11 comment deadline.
That decision will force the agency to miss the Nov. 12 deadline for releasing the rule set by the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act.
Board members said Tuesday that they decided to postpone the deadline after consulting with key lawmakers. However, a Senate Banking Committee spokeswoman said Wednesday that an amendment to Gramm-Leach-Bliley may be required to postpone the release.
A spokesman for the board would not say when the rule would be released, but industry observers predicted it would not be completed before January.
