On December 10, 2013, five U.S. financial regulators (the Agencies) adopted a final rule implementing the Volcker Rule. The text of the final rule and its accompanying preamble are available here. The Volcker Rule was created by Section 619 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (the Dodd-Frank Act) and prohibits banking entities from engaging in “proprietary trading” and making investments and conducting certain other activities with “private equity funds and hedge funds.”

In October 2011, the Agencies released a proposed rule to implement the Volcker Rule. Our analysis of the proposed rule is available here. The proposal generated extensive and diverse feedback from industry participants, policymakers and the public. After more than two years of deliberation, the final rule reflects the efforts of the Agencies to incorporate this feedback to the extent consistent with statutory requirements and policy objectives.

We expect that the financial services industry will spend the coming months in close analysis of the final rule. This publication is offered to help those affected by the rule to identify some key differences between the proposal and the final rule. A redline comparison of the operative text of the final rule against that of the proposed rule is available....