"The agreement also proposes exempting banks with less than $10 billion in assets from the so-called Volcker Rule which bans banks from speculating in markets with their own capital - despised by lenders for its heavy compliance costs.
Industry expectations on a final deal had been muted because Senate Republicans need eight Democrats to support their efforts in order to pass changes to the post-crisis rules. The Senate bill, which is more limited in scope than the House’s original proposal, has nine Democratic co-sponsors, meaning it is likely to pass into law.
Senate Banking Committee Chairman Mike Crapo struck the deal with a group of moderate Democratic senators including Joe Donnelly, Heidi Heitkamp, Jon Tester and Mark Warner, who took over the discussions with Crapo after the committee’s ranking Democrat, Sherrod Brown, walked away from the talks last week.
