The House of Representatives, with bipartisan support, passed legislation yesterday that would roll back a major element of the 2010 law intended to strengthen the nation’s financial regulations by allowing big banks like Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase to continue to handle most types of derivatives trades in house, the New York Times DealBook blog reported yesterday. The bill, which passed by a 292-122 vote, would repeal a requirement in the Dodd-Frank law that big banks “push out” some derivatives trading into separate units that are not backed by the government’s insurance fund. The House legislation, formally known as the Swaps Regulatory Improvement Act, has few prospects of becoming law, as the Senate has not proceeded with its own version, and the Obama administration has spoken in opposition to it, arguing that regulators should be given a chance to adopt various Dodd-Frank related regulations before the law is revised.
