Bank regulators approved a final rule requiring large banks to meet the same minimum capital standards as community banks.  The rule implements the Collins amendment of Dodd-Frank, intended to set a capital floor for all U.S. banks and ensure large institutions cannot be less well-capitalized than their small-bank counterparts.  

No Immediate Impact.   An FDIC official said the rule should not have any immediate impact - "nobody is going to have to raise capital, let's be absolutely clear." 

Nevertheless, the capital floor provision was championed by outgoing FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair when the 2010 law was being drafted.  She and supporters argue that during the financial crisis large bank holding companies were leaning on their federally insured banking units as a source of financial strength. That reliance helped lead to government bailouts, when the opposite should have been the case, Bair has said.   [Reuters, 6/14/11]