On June 25, 2020, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Treasury (OCC), the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (the Fed), the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), or the “agencies,” adopted amendments to the “Volcker Rule” set forth in section 13 of the Bank Holding Company Act (the “BHC Act”). The Volcker Rule generally prohibits banks and certain other financial institutions from engaging in proprietary trading and severely limits the ability of those institutions to acquire or retain an ownership interest in, or sponsor or have certain other relationships with, a “covered fund.” The adopting release largely adopts the January 2020 proposed rules with a few clarifying changes based on comments.
