As the Federal Reserve races to tighten financial industry regulations prior to the U.S. presidential handover, smaller banks are catching a break.
All but the biggest eight U.S. banks are exempt from a new Fed rule designed to reduce the risk of a run that might destabilize the global financial system. Under the rule, the largest lenders, which include the likes of New York-based Citigroup (C) , must issue an estimated $49 billion of additional long-term debt, costing them as much as $2 billion in higher interest costs, based on estimates from the central bank.
