Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke said a proposed rule from US bank regulators regarding margin requirements and derivatives could put US companies at a competitive disadvantage with their international rivals.
Bernanke told the Senate Banking Committee on Thursday that regulators are pushing other countries to adopt similar rules and if they do not, US regulators will revisit their proposal.
Business groups and lawmakers have complained that the derivatives crackdown in Dodd-Frank will create an unlevel playing field. They argue that the foreign arms of US banks will have to be subject to the costly margin rule while non-US competitors will not.
"The best solution we are pursuing is that we get a global agreement" on margin rules for swaps, Bernanke said.
"If that doesn't happen, we will have to think again about how to meet Dodd-Frank's requirements for improved prudential safety, which is what margins are intended to achieve, without disadvantaging our banks."