Merkley applauds Fed’s $157 million Deutsche Bank fine

Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., applauded news Friday that the Federal Reserve fined Deutsche Bank $157 million for violating the Volcker Rule.

The fine is the first related to enforcement of the Volcker Rule, which Merkley co-authored along with former Senator Carl Levin as part of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010.

The Volcker Rule, which places a firewall between traditional banking and risky proprietary trading activities, was implemented by regulators in July 2015 .

” Today ‘s enforcement action sends an important signal to banks that they must follow the Volcker Rule or pay the price,” Merkley said.

“Following the financial meltdown of 2008, we put the Volcker Rule into place for good reason: because allowing banks to gamble with depositors’ taxpayer-insured money rarely ends well for consumers, taxpayers or our economy,” the senator said. “That common-sense principle remains as applicable today as ever.

“This enforcement action is yet another reminder that President Trump should fulfill his repeated campaign promises to stand up to Wall Street and work to support tough enforcement action, rather than doing the banks’ bidding by continuing to try to roll back or weaken Dodd-Frank.”