Treasury, the Fed, the FDIC, and the SEC have announced an extension of the comment period on the proposed regulations implementing the Dodd-Frank Act's Volcker Rule provisions.  Originally set to expire on January 13, 2012, the comment period has been extended a month until February 13, 2012.

According to the joint release, the comment period was extended as part of a coordinated interagency effort to allow interested persons more time to analyze the issues and prepare their comments, and is appropriate due to the complexity of the issues involved and the variety of considerations involved in its impact and implementation. The Dodd-Frank Act requires the regulators to implement the "Volker Rule," which is a set of prohibitions and restrictions on the ability of bank and non-bank financial companies to engage in proprietary trading and have certain interests in, or relationships with, hedge funds or private equity funds.