Industry Opponents Slam Volcker Rule as Volcker Defends It -Joyce Hanson (AdvisorOne)
February 14, 2012

“The controversial Volcker rule that regulates proprietary trading came in for a final round of comment as frustrated bankers, anti-Wall Street activists and Paul Volcker himself flooded government regulators with last-minute statements before the deadline Monday at midnight. The crushing volume of the statements, at nearly 15,000 as of Tuesday morning on the Securities and Exchange Commission’s comments page, may have come as a surprise, though the passionate commentary did not, considering that the Volcker rule has drawn more heated debate than just about any other element in the Dodd-Frank financial reform act. … Backing up Volcker were a number of Democrat senators as well as a coalition group comprising Americans for Financial Reform, Public Citizen, and Occupy the SEC, a sub-group associated with New York’s Occupy Wall Street movement. Wrote Occupy the SEC in a 325-page letter: ‘Free from the enforced separation between commercial and investment banking, as originally required by the Glass-Steagall Act, banks now prefer to engage in self-interested proprietary trading rather than pursuing traditional banking activities that actually promote true ‘liquidity’ across markets. Liquidity in opaque financial instruments may have increased in recent years, but real liquidity, which benefits consumers, investors, small business owners, and homeowners, has not followed suit.’” Click here for more.