By Pete Schroeder
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Reserve's top regulatory official said Thursday he expects to advance several significant rule-easing projects for banks this fall.
Randal Quarles, the Fed's vice chair for supervision, said he expects to advance efforts to rewrite the "Volcker Rule" banning proprietary trading, as well as finalize a proposal easing rules for all but the nation's largest banks in the coming months.
Speaking at an event in Washington, Quarles said he envisions the Fed will likely re-propose portions of the "Volcker" rewrite to address industry concerns, while finalizing other portions of the proposal, which was first unveiled in May 2018.
That proposal, aimed at easing burdens around the post-crisis rule, was met with criticism from banks, who worried it could prove more problematic.
Quarles also said the Fed is likely to complete work on proposed rules easing capital and liquidity requirements for all but the nation's largest banks in the fall.
That easing was ordered by a bank deregulation law passed by Congress in 2018, and directs the Fed to ease capital and liquidity requirements for smaller banks. The Fed proposed easier rules for domestic banks in October, and a similar regime for foreign banks in April.
Quarles said the goal would be to finalize both of those rulewriting projects around the same time, to ensure different banks are not adhering to significantly different sets of rules.