"Because the proposed rules fail to clearly protect such bona fide activities, banking organizations like ours will operate in a continuous zone of uncertainty -- unclear whether legitimate activities and trades will on a post-hoc basis be determined by an agency to constitute impermissible proprietary trading," the companies said in a joint letter that was also signed by Capital One Financial Corp., SunTrust Banks Inc., BB&T Corp., Fifth Third Bancorp, Regions Financial Corp. and KeyCorp.
Not all the comment letters opposed the proposed rule. Senators Carl Levin of Michigan and Jeff Merkley of Oregon, the Democrats who drafted the provision, called the proposal from regulators "too tepid" and said it did "not fulfill the law's promise."
"Instead, the proposed rule seems focused on minimizing its own potential impact," the lawmakers said.