The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency....>

US: The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has approved long-awaited

changes to the so-called "Volcker Rule", reports Bloomberg, citing a spokesman. 

- The main one is the ending of margin requirements for swaps between banks'

affiliates, which will free as much as $40bln by some estimates that banks will

be able to use for other purposes such as lending. There are some strings

attached, per the BBG report: this will apply only in cases where the margin

that would have been collected is less than 15% of Tier 1 capital.

- Apart from freeing up money for lending, US banks had complained they had been

disadvantaged vs foreign rivals which did not have similar requirements. Also,

banks argued that they used swaps to centralize internal risk, and that this did

not increase overall institutional risk.

- On the opposite side, some had been concerned that historically, large US

institutions used swaps to transfer risk from overseas to domestic depository

affiliates, thus leaving the FDIC on the hook in case of failure.

- Also, banks will now be allowed to invest in venture capital funds.

- The CFTC and SEC also have to approve these changes.