Powell: SLR Exemption Up For Public Comment "Soon"

SLR question to Powell, whether the temporary exclusion to Tsys/Reserves helped banks provide credit to the economy over the past year.

• Says they threw "the kitchen sink" at the problems facing the economy a year ago, so hard to say what impact SLR exemption alone had.
• Says the Fed expects to put something out for comment "relatively soon", will have a transparent public process over this issue.
• Powell says that due to the substantial increase in reserves and Tsys, the leverage ratio is rapidly becoming the binding constraint from a capital standpoint, that wasn't the Fed's intention at the beginning.
• The latter is interesting because it suggests the Fed leadership may push for exemption of reserves, as has been suggested by some analysts.