Momentum in the U.S. Congress for revising the Volcker rule isbuilding as a group of U.S. senators proposed bipartisanlegislation that would delay the implementation date of theproprietary trading ban as regulators work on a revision.

A group of six U.S. senators proposed legislation today thatwould move implementation date from the July 21 date set by theDodd-Frank Act and align it with regulators' completion of detailedrules for the proprietary trading ban.

Representative Barney Frank, co-author of the Dodd-Frank Actthat required regulators to impose the ban, urged affected agenciesto complete work on a simplified version before Sept. 3, he said ina statement today. Frank also asked regulators to issue guidanceclarifying what compliance will be required if the agencies don'tcomplete the measure by July 21.

“By linking the effective date to the regulators completingtheir work, Congress will not be arbitrarily extending theimplementation of Dodd-Frank, and financial institutions andmarkets will be able to comply with final rules rather than beingforced to guess what those regulations might be,” the six senatorssaid in a statement today. “This is accomplished by a two-wordamendment which would change the effective date from ''earlier of''to ''later of'' between these two dates.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and other regulators havetold lawmakers in congressional testimony that the interagency rulemay not be completed by July 21, the effective date set underDodd-Frank, the financial-rules overhaul enacted in July 2010.

The Senate legislation was proposed by Democrats Mark Warner ofVirginia, Kay Hagan of North Carolina and Tom Carper of Delaware,along with Republicans Mike Crapo of Idaho, Pat Toomey ofPennsylvania and Bob Corker of Tennessee.

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