OCC Delays Implementation of Swaps Push-Out Rule

WASHINGTON — The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency said Wednesday it would give the seven largest national banks more time to push out their swap activities as required by the Dodd-Frank Act.

The agency posted letters it had sent to the banks, including JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Wells Fargo, giving them two more years to comply with the push-out requirement.

The banks now have until July 16, 2015 to divest swap activities into separate entities or lose federal support. The rule was meant to push the banks' riskiest activities out of the commercial bank, which receives federal assistance such as deposit insurance and access to the Federal Reserve discount window.

But banks argued they were unclear on what activities must be separated from the bank, pointing to overlapping regulations related to swaps that are not yet finished.

The extension was expected since the Federal Reserve recently gave foreign banks an additional 24 months to comply with the rule.

Other banks that received a letter from the OCC in response to their requests for more time were Citigroup, HSBC Holdings, Morgan Stanley and U.S. Bancorp.

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