According to Reuters, US bank regulators may be revising a part of the often contended Volcker Rule to allow banks to hold on to a specific type of security generally regarded to be harmless.
The Volcker Rule, which many banks warned would cause a large drop in revenue for them, was set to limit the bank’s ability to hold hedge funds, private equity funds, and a large number of securities, as they had all been linked to the financial crisis of 2008. However, with this revision, banks will still be allowed to hold collateralized debt obligations, or TruPS CDOs.
The decision will be made no later than January 15th, regulators say. While banks had argued for a decision to be made by the end of the year, regulators have stated that a decision by mid-January will have to suffice.
Later agreeing to the issue, the banks will have until January 23rd to reply to the final decision made by US regulators over the Volcker Rule.
Should regulators choose to go ahead with the revision, it will mark the first amendment to the Volcker Rule, which was only approved earlier this month. With the first change coming less than a month into its approval, it seems unlikely that it will be the last.
