Senators Carl Levin, Democrat of Michigan, and Senator Jeff Merkley, Democrat of Oregon sent a letter to regulators drafting the Volcker Rule imploring them to please hurry up. Years after first proposing the rule, regulators are still fine-tuning a final version. And the Congressional supporters of the crackdown, which would limit big banks from trading with their own money, are growing antsy.

"We urge you to move quickly, make the final adjustments needed to simplify and strengthen the October 2011 proposal, and bring the process to a conclusion," the senators wrote on Thursday.

The letter on Wednesday is the latest Congressional attempt to light a fire under the five regulatory agencies writing the rule, including the Federal Reserve and the Securities and Exchange Commission. In April, 22 senators called for regulators to adopt a final rule by the summer. Representative Barney Frank, the Massachusetts Democrat who co-authored the Dodd-Frank financial regulatory overhaul that created the Volcker Rule, once called on regulators to issue a final rule by Labor Day.

Regulators aimed to wrap up in September, but they encountered delays in the wake of JPMorgan Chase's $6 billion trading loss, which became a flash point in the debate over the rule. Regulators, which are still split on certain details of the rule, now hope to finalize the plan by the end of the year.

For more information, please read [NYT Dealbook, 10/26/12]