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"My understanding is the White House really does believe in it, but Treasury and the Hill do not." Paleeese! Enough of this BS!!!
Volcker fooled
By JOSH KOSMAN and MARK DeCAMBRE
, February 23, 2010
The Obama administration is backing off a plan to bar commercial banks from engaging in proprietary trading, favoring instead a watered-down version of a key tenet of the proposed "Volcker rule" governing how banks operate, according to people familiar with the situation.
Sources told The Post that instead of issuing an outright ban on prop trading -- or trading done on behalf of only the bank itself -- the White House will propose that federally insured banks keep higher cash reserves if they want to run such trading desks.
The about-face comes amid signs the administration faced an uphill battle selling lawmakers and Treasury officials on an outright ban.
President Obama on Jan. 21 proposed sweeping banking industry reform, outlining plans that would bar a bank from owning, investing or sponsoring hedge funds or private equity funds, and running trading operations that did not specifically serve customers.
The proposals went by the shorthand name "the Volcker rule," as they were championed by former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker.
However, in the month since the announcement stunned Wall Street, sources said Volcker's ideas have been "marginalized" and are not expected to figure prominently in whatever the Senate formulates in the coming days.
Said a Treasury spokeswoman: "We continue to work with congressional members from both sides of the aisle to bring financial reform across the finish line -- and to do all that we can to ensure that the American people are never again forced to suffer the consequences of a preventable financial catastrophe."
Volcker fooled
By JOSH KOSMAN and MARK DeCAMBRE
, February 23, 2010
The Obama administration is backing off a plan to bar commercial banks from engaging in proprietary trading, favoring instead a watered-down version of a key tenet of the proposed "Volcker rule" governing how banks operate, according to people familiar with the situation.
Sources told The Post that instead of issuing an outright ban on prop trading -- or trading done on behalf of only the bank itself -- the White House will propose that federally insured banks keep higher cash reserves if they want to run such trading desks.
The about-face comes amid signs the administration faced an uphill battle selling lawmakers and Treasury officials on an outright ban.
President Obama on Jan. 21 proposed sweeping banking industry reform, outlining plans that would bar a bank from owning, investing or sponsoring hedge funds or private equity funds, and running trading operations that did not specifically serve customers.
The proposals went by the shorthand name "the Volcker rule," as they were championed by former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker.
However, in the month since the announcement stunned Wall Street, sources said Volcker's ideas have been "marginalized" and are not expected to figure prominently in whatever the Senate formulates in the coming days.
Said a Treasury spokeswoman: "We continue to work with congressional members from both sides of the aisle to bring financial reform across the finish line -- and to do all that we can to ensure that the American people are never again forced to suffer the consequences of a preventable financial catastrophe."
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