Democrats Back Wall Street Push to Free Up $40 Billion in Margin
- Banks win help of 17 House Democrats on swaps collateral rules
- Lawmakers call for easing inter-affiliate margin requirement
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A group of House Democrats is pressing bank regulators to roll back a rule that forces the biggest Wall Street firms to set aside as much as $40 billion as a safety net in derivatives trading.
Freeing those billions in collateral has been a longtime aim of the industry and has regularly drawn support from Republicans in Congress. Now 17 Democrats -- including seven from the House Financial Services Committee -- have joined in, calling for an overhaul of requirements tied to internal swaps transactions between a bank’s affiliates.