The final regulations (Regulations) adopted by the five federal financial regulatory agencies (Agencies) on December 10, 2013 to implement the proprietary trading and private fund prohibitions of the Volcker Rule have made a number of material changes to the proposed rules (Proposed Rules) published by the Agencies in late 2011, while preserving the basic prohibitions and major exclusions and exceptions of the Volcker Rule.
In many respects, the changes to the Regulations, with the exception of their treatment of hedging activities (discussed below), are reasonably accommodating to banking industry concerns with the impact and burdens associated with the Proposed Rules.
The Regulations will become effective on April 1, 2014, but affected banking organizations generally will have until July 21, 2015 to bring their proprietary trading and private fund activities into conformance with the Volcker Rule and the Regulations. Banking organizations are expected to engage in “good faith efforts” to bring all of their covered activities into compliance by the July 2015 conformance date.