The 10 biggest banks in the U.S. spent almost $11 million lobbying the government on financial reform legislation and other issues during the third quarter of 2010, according to the latest disclosure reports.
And though the Dodd-Frank financial reform bill was signed into law by President Obama on July 15, several prominent banks have since increased their lobbying, a sign that the real back-room deals may be happening now while several agencies write the specific rules and regulations.
Major Wall Street players and banks have been huddling in meetings with regulators and staffers at the Federal Reserve, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Comptroller of the Currency and the Securities and Exchange Commission in recent months to hash out the details of those rules.
JPMorgan Chase almost doubled their spending on lobbying to $2.7 million from $1.5 million in the second quarter. And Barclays PLC upped its expenditures to $1.09 million from $930,000 in the second quarter. But other firms reduced their spending, including Bank of America, which spent almost $700,000, down from $1.09 million in the second quarter, and Goldman Sachs cuts its lobbying almost in half, from $1.58 million to $780,000.
In addition to financial reform, JPMorgan's interests covered the gamut, from credit card transaction fees and proposals to increase commercial real estate lending to rural housing loan programs and the government's massive $3.4 billion settlement of a lawsuit involving alleged mismanagement of Native American trust accounts -- sometimes referred to as the biggest class-action lawsuit in history against the government.
Here is how much the top 10 banks spent on lobbying in the third quarter:
- Bank of America Corporation - $690,000
- JPMorgan Chase & Co. - $2.74 million
- Citigroup Inc. - $1.34 million
- Wells Fargo & Company ) - $1.18 million
- Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. - $780,000
- Morgan Stanley - $650,000
- Metlife, Inc. - 1.19 million
- Barclays Group US Inc. - $1.09 million
- Taunus Corporation (Deutsche Bank) - $540,000
- HSBC North America Holdings - $540,000
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