<P> However, after a lawsuit was filed to stay the effect of the Volcker Rule regulations over whether banks could be required to sell or divest collateralized debt obligations (CDO) backed by trust - preferred securities (TruPS), on December 27, 2013 the Federal Reserve Board, FDIC, OCC, CFTC and SEC all announced they were reviewing whether it would be appropriate to exempt a small subset of securities from the rule, on which they would rule by January 15, 2014, at the latest . On January 14, 2014, interim final regulations were adopted to permit certain banking entities to retain those investments . </P> <P> On January 14, 2014, revised final regulations were approved . </P> <P> The rule came into effect on July 21, 2015 . </P> <P> Extensions continued for banks to exit illiquid investments . On December 18, 2014, the Federal Reserve extended the Volcker Rule's conformance period for "legacy covered funds" (a defined term) until July 21, 2016, and indicated it would likely extend the period further to July 21, 2017 . The extension to 2016 is the second of three possible one - year extensions the Federal Reserve may issue under the Dodd - Frank Act (regulators provided an initial one - year extension when the Volcker Rule was finalized in December 2013). Wall Street lobbyists continue to ask the Federal Reserve to extend the deadline for some banking investments in private equity and hedge funds . </P>

The u.s. rule is only used by banks