Democrats urge greater transparency in Volcker Rule enforcement

This story appeared in Bank Digest.   

Senators Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore), and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass) have written a letter urging federal financial regulators for more transparency about how the Volcker Rule is currently being enforced. A Senate Banking Committee minority press release described the Volcker Rule, which requires a separation of hedge fund-like activities from traditional banking, as one of the most significant provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act and said the senators' letter "was sent amid ongoing efforts by Trump appointees to weaken the rule." 

In their letter, the senators complained of "the limited transparency into the data and metrics used by the federal financial regulators in order to understand if the provision has been effective at obtaining the change that Congress intended." They requested that the regulators "share with Congress quantitative data and metrics demonstrating banks' activities under the Volcker Rule, along with the agencies' standards used to demonstrate compliance, the penalties for non-compliance, and banks' success or failure at achieving compliance."