By Dylan Tokar
America's biggest banks will be allowed to hold billions of dollars less in capital on their books under a new proposal, a change officials say will free up their ability to lend and compete with private-credit firms and other rivals.
The proposal introduced Thursday would hand a major victory to big banks, which had resisted sharply higher requirements proposed under the Biden administration. Wall Street's embrace of a second Trump administration had largely centered around the prospect that plans for those stricter requirements would be scrapped.
The Federal Reserve is scheduled to vote on the proposal later Thursday.
Big banks received massive bailouts in the 2008-09 financial crisis , prompting policymakers to impose higher capital requirements and other tightened controls designed to protect against a future crash. The measures limited their ability to lend and helped open the door to private-credit firms and other non-bank lenders, which had been booming until running into more recent turbulence.
One proposed response -- part of an international agreement known as the Basel accords -- languished for years until a series of bank failures in 2023. The bank collapses prompted the Federal Reserve during the Biden administration to take up Basel and propose even higher capital buffers as a safety net for turbulent times.
JPMorgan Chase and other big banks waged an intense lobbying campaign to fight the tightened rules, including with TV ads during National Football League games.
Write to Dylan Tokar at dylan.tokar@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 19, 2026 09:52 ET (13:52 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
