At a press conference following the recent Federal Open Market
Committee, Federal Reserve Board Chair Ben Bernanke said that regulators have
made a good bit of progress on finalizing the Dodd-Frank Act Volcker Rule and
he anticipates that being done this year. Conceding that it has taken time to
do these regulations, he said that there are a number of reasons for that,
including that they are inherently quite complicated. The Volcker Rule, for
example, involves some very subtle distinctions between hedging and market
making and proprietary trading. Another reason is that the Volcker Rule
involves multiple agencies which have to coordinate, cooperate and agree on
language. The SEC, CFTC, OCC, FDIC and the Fed are all coordinating on the
Volcker Rule.
Chairman Bernanke also emphasized that federal regulators have to get
the Volcker Rule right; and that means having extended comment periods, getting
lots of information from the public and then reviewing those comments and doing
all that can be done to ensure that the regulators are responsive to the many
concerns and suggestions. The Volcker Rule is codified as Section 619 of the
Dodd-Frank Act.