Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and other Wall Street banks can breathea sigh of relief after the Federal Reserve said Monday that itwould give them more time to meet Volcker Rule requirements tounload hard-to-sell stakes in private-equity firms and hedgefunds.

Banks can be granted as long as five years from the current July21 compliance date to divest holdings that are consideredespecially illiquid, the Fed said in a statement Monday. Thecentral bank said that it probably will grant such extensions aslong as lenders have demonstrated “meaningful progress” towardmeeting Volcker requirements.

“The board expects that the illiquid funds of banking entitieswill generally qualify for extensions,” the Fed said in itsstatement.