House, Senate Bills Seek To Ease Volcker Rule Impact On TruPS CDOs

U.S. Senate U.S. House Community Banks Volcker Rule

On January 8, House Financial Services Committee chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) and committee member Shelly Moore Capito (R-WV) introduced a bill, H.R. 3819, that would clarify that the Volcker Rule will not require banking institutions to divest their ownership in Trust Preferred Securities (TruPS) collateralized debt obligations (CDOs) that were issued before the date of the final Volcker Rule, December 10, 2013. A group of Republican Senators also announced a bill, the text of which was not immediately available. As recently reported, federal regulators are reviewing whether it is appropriate and consistent with the Dodd-Frank Act to fully exempt TruPS CDOs from the Volcker Rule prohibitions on ownership of covered funds. On January 7, a group of House Democrats sent a letter to the regulators urging them to exempt banks with less than $15 billion in assets from the Volcker TruPS CDO divestiture requirement.