While I’ll certainly have much more to say on the finalized version of Volcker in the days ahead, for now just take a moment to wrap your mind around this:
The actual rule is 70 pages long. The PREAMBLE explaining the rule is 900 pages long.
From the NYT’s DealBook: “Compliance will be daunting, but hopefully the waiting will have been the hardest part,†said Lisa M. Ledbetter, who said she was one of about 200 lawyers at Jones Day who will review the rule on Tuesday on behalf of the firm’s Wall Street clients. “The devil is in the details.â€
Somehow, I’m guessing this is one instance in which Ms. Ledbetter and her fellow 200 lawyers (AT ONE FIRM…) aren’t actually all that heartbroken about either “the devil” or those pesky “details.”
According to Bloomberg News: “The Volcker rule may create about 2.3 million hours of paperwork, pushing the total amount of compliance time for Dodd-Frank legislation to about 59 million hours, according to government estimates compiled by Sam Batkins, director of regulatory policy at the American Action Forum. That could cost banks at least $5.9 billion, said Batkins, whose organization advocates reducing the size of the government.”
I ALWAYS SUSPECTED SANTA WAS A LAWYER . . .