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Occupy the SEC's May 11th, 2012 press release: JP Morgan’s “London Whale” Fiasco Highlights the Need for a Strong Volcker Rule
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What We Did Who We Are How You Can Get Involved Join Our Mailing List

What We Did

Occupy the SEC submitted a 325 page letter to the SEC, FDIC, the Federal Reserve and the OCC, to comment on the notice of proposed rulemaking for the Volcker Rule. In our comment letter, we answered 244 out of 395 questions asked by the Agencies.

The Agencies involved in the Volcker rulemaking process have an historic opportunity to redress many of the economic wrongs of the past, and create a future that privileges the interests of the many rather than the few. We ask that the Agencies vigorously implement the considerable responsibilities that have been discharged to them by Congress, remain faithful to the statute’s intent and consider the comments contained in this letter.

PDF of our original Volcker Rule Comment Letter

We also submitted a comment letter to the CFTC's version of the Volcker Rule, which you can find at the CFTC's website.

Occupy the SEC's Comment Letter on the Volcker Rule on Scribd

The Dodd-Frank Act, which passed in 2010, contained a Section (619) that is known as “The Volcker Rule.” The Volcker Rule puts limits on proprietary trading by banks and non-bank financial companies.

The SEC and the banking regulators are now required to actually implement Sections 619 through regulations.

Whenever a federal agency proposes a substantive new regulation, by law it is required to seek public comment first. Normally the only parties that respond to agency comment requests are the companies that are affected by the regulations, and their attorneys (i.e. lawyers at the investment banks, in this case). As you might guess, their comments are always critical of regulation.

The SEC/banking regulators have proposed their regulations for implementing Volcker, and they are requesting comments from the public.

Who We Are

Occupy the SEC is a group of concerned citizens, activists, and financial professionals with decades of collective experience working at many of the largest financial firms in the industry.

Leading up to the February 13th comment deadline, we have been doing two things:

  1. Meeting on a bi-weekly basis for a Volcker Rule Book Club. We assigned sections of the Rule and discuss it in person.
  2. Drafting a joint public comment letter prior to the deadline (February 13th, 2012).
If you are on the ground in NYC and would like to participate with us, or would like to help remotely, please join our online group at the NYC General Assembly page.

Get Involved!

Co-sign our letter by signing our petition on change.org. We are asking the Agencies (the FDIC, SEC, OCC and the Fed) to close the current loopholes in the Volcker Rule and write a strong final rule!

Join Our Mailing List!