STOCK MARKET WATCH -- Friday, 19 September 2014

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21. Regulators Weigh Delay for Separating Banks’ Swaps Units

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-09-19/regulators-weigh-delay-for-separating-banks-swaps-units.html

U.S. banks may get another year to shift some swaps trading from their government-insured units as regulators respond to demands to give them more time, according to two people familiar with the talks.

A delay until July 2016 in applying the Dodd-Frank Act separation requirement is being weighed in discussions between bank lobbyists and officials from the Federal Reserve and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, according to the people, who requested anonymity to talk about the matter.

The provision was included in the 2010 law as a way to shield taxpayers from the kind of risky trading that helped fuel the 2008 credit crisis. Groups representing JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM), Citigroup Inc. (C) and Bank of America Corp. (BAC) say the deadline should be delayed while rules are being completed.

Separating swaps units from banking operations is “one of the most important provisions of Dodd-Frank, and one of the ones the big banks fear the most,” Art Wilmarth, a George Washington University law professor, said in an interview. “They get huge cost advantages -- including margin advantages -- if they keep them inside the bank,” he said.