Volcker Rule Could Mean Higher Energy Prices, Fewer Jobs: Study – Karina Frayter (CNBC)
March 28, 2012

“Proposed regulation to prohibit proprietary trading by banks, known as Volcker Rule, could result in higher energy prices and fewer jobs, according to a new study.  The study, which was conducted by information and analytics provider IHS, examines the impact the implementation of the Volcker Rule would have on the energy industry, which heavily relies on banks for commodity risk management and intermediation services. ‘The findings indicate that the regulations, as currently envisioned, could create a significant ripple effect through the energy economy that would reduce production, increase the cost of electricity and gasoline and ultimately affect jobs,’ says the study.  The report was commissioned by Morgan Stanley, one of the big banks lobbying to ease the regulation. But IHS maintains its analysis, content and conclusions are entirely independent. …However, Americans for Financial Reform, an advocacy coalition supporting the legislation, took issue with the report. ‘This is just the latest in a series of industry-funded studies ordered up by financial market interests expressly to undermine the Volcker Rule,’ executive director Lisa Donner told CNBC in response to a question. ‘They don’t want to have to stop the profitable and risky proprietary trading that the Volcker rule bans, and they are grasping at straws to protect the status quo.’”  Click here for more.