Swaps push-out: Banks hoping for Fed fix

Since it was signed into law three years ago, banks and lawyers have been expecting a fix to the Dodd-Frank Act’s swaps push-out rule. But with six weeks until it comes into effect, expectation is turning to hope – and banks are warning they may not be able to comply. By Peter Madigan

On June 1, banks in the US will be 45 days away from a deadline many thought would never arrive – the implementation of section 716 of the Dodd-Frank Act, better known as the swaps push-out. This eight-page provision has been alternately dismissed or derided since it unexpectedly made it into the final act, and even its authors have admitted that one of its most controversial features – which applies the full force of the rule to the US branches of foreign banks, while their local rivals benefit