The top Republican on the Senate Banking Committee is getting closer to striking a deal on a bipartisan bill to ease financial rules that could have wins for banks both big and small, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), the panel’s chairman, is in talks with moderate Democrats including Jon Tester of Montana, Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota and Joe Donnelly of Indiana on a plan for rolling back parts of the Dodd-Frank Act. A deal could come as soon as this week, Tester has said. Reducing the compliance burden for community banks has been identified as a top priority, but the lawmakers are also discussing ways to free bigger regional lenders from some of the strictest post-crisis regulations. Also on the table, lawmakers say, are tweaks to measures such as the Volcker Rule limits on banks’ trading, though it’s unclear what will make it into the final bill.
