Federal Reserve defies White House and Congress on banking regulation

President Trump and the Federal Reserve continue to clash over interest rates, but another simmering dispute concerns the regulatory burden the Federal Reserve and other agencies impose on banks. This latest fracas involves one of the costliest provisions of the Dodd Frank Act of 2010.

This is the Volcker rule. It is an edict that generally forbids banks from using their own capital to trade in securities or invest in hedge funds and private equity funds. It posed such a huge burden for small and midsize banks that last year, President Trump signed bipartisan legislation to relieve those institutions from the restrictions. Yet one year later, the Federal Reserve and four other regulatory agencies are defying the White House and Congress by not implementing the full relief from the Volcker rule prescribed in the law, leaving Main Street banks mired in the red tape that is hindering their efforts to serve consumers and small businesses.

Read the full article on The Hill.