Covid relief provision won’t benefit big banks as per federal regulators clause

On Friday, federal regulators said they won’t extend a Covid relief provision granted to big banks, disappointing Wall Streets’ hope for an extension.

The news affected stocks of economic giants JP Morgan,  Wells Fargo ( WFC). The helping to drive the Dow down as much as about 300 points,  or 1%. US Treasury yields also crept higher, weighing on the broader markets.

Last March, companies were facing a lot of disarrays the Federal Reserve handed a sort of “get out of jail free” card to America’s big banks:  It loosened leverage rules that JPMorgan, Bank of America ( BAC), and other large lenders must obey.

But on Friday, US regulators said they would allow the leverage exemption to expire at the end of the month, explaining that the “temporary change was made to provide flexibility” to banks — allowing them to keep providing credit to families and businesses during the pandemic.

The Federal regulators also announced it will attempt to rework the leverage rule to make sure it remains effective in the current environment.

The decision follows pressure from leading democrats who were worried big banks were using the pandemic as an excuse to weaken post-2008 crisis rules.