Senators Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and Carl Levin (D-Mich.) have appealed to regulators to finish work on the Volcker Rule, which was meant to prevent banks from engaging in hedge-fund style trading. That basic principle has been “the law of the land for over two years,” the Senators point out in a letter to the heads of five key bank oversight agencies.  “Now, nearly four months past the deadline for it to go into effect, we call for an end to the delay in issuing its implementing regulations.

“While American families and businesses should be enjoying the protection of the Volcker Rule, your agencies’ ongoing failure to implement these important protections has left them and our economy at greater risk of another financial crisis,” the letter continues. “In the years since the law was passed, we have all seen a series of high-profile trading losses at banks and non-bank financial companies – instances where the Volcker Rule, if properly implemented, could have prevented significant losses that once again have undermined confidence in our markets and institutions.”

Senators Merkley and Levin were the lead authors of the provision of the Dodd-Frank Act that laid down the Volcker Final rules were supposed to be in place within two years of the law’s enactment. That deadline passed on July 21, 2012.