EU Waving Red Flag at Volcker Rule

by Kyle Colona on January 27, 2012

Not only have GOP lawmakers on the Hill and high rolling dealmakers on the Street been gnashing their teeth over the impending implementation of the long anticipated Volcker Rule, the European Commission is gearing up to complain to federal regulators that the rule could discourage banks from trading European sovereign bonds.

So they’re just figuring this out now?

The provisions of the Dodd-Frank reform measure and its little buddy the Volcker Rule have been a well tipped pitch, so where have the fearless leaders of the EU been all this time, across the English Channel or underneath via the Chunnel to hit the Royal Academy links?

What’s more, big banks in the US have been horded under the big umbrella of the Basel III Accord requiring higher capital standards in a play that JP Morgan head honcho Jamie Dimon has called “anti-American.”

But over here, there’s no crying in baseball, or in banking.

In any case, the Wall Street Journal is reporting that European Commission intends to raise objections next month about the potential impact of the Volcker rule, which would restrict U.S. banks from making bets with their own capital.

Apparently this is “particularly sensitive” to the Euros because many countries are struggling to raise funds at affordable rates amid the euro zone’s debt crisis, and the Volcker rule could hinder U.S. banks from buying and selling European sovereign bonds thereby reducing liquidity in those markets.

One would think that regulators here, in the UK and the EU would have thought all these things through as each has been busy building better mousetraps in their home lands while overlooking the fact that the financial tsunami of 2008 was one of global proportions.

That being said one overarching concern is that that the Volcker rule exempts U.S. government bonds from the ban on proprietary trading, and not those of other countries; but do we want our banks to buy more euro junk bonds when the US banking system is still struggling to get back on its feet?

And we certainly don’t need another calamity like MF Global.

Kyle Colona is a New York based freelance writer and a Feature Writer for the Compliance Exchange. He has an extensive background in legal and regulatory affairs in the financial services sector and his work has appeared in a variety of print and on-line publications.

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