Trump's Focus on US Yields Fuels Bets on Bank Leverage Rule Review

• The Trump administration's pledge to contain long-term U.S. Treasury yields has strengthened bond market expectations that a long-desired regulatory shift on bank leverage requirements could be finally looming. Some traders are betting regulators may soon focus on a review of the Supplementary Leverage Ratio (SLR), a rule requiring big U.S. banks to hold an extra layer of loss-absorbing capital against U.S. government debt and central bank deposits.
• The possible policy change would mean banks would not need to set aside as much extra money when they hold safe assets like Treasuries. This could eventually help push U.S. Treasury yields lower, some investors and analysts said, by giving banks more leeway to hold Treasuries and likely boosting demand.
• Spreads of swap rates over Treasury yields have widened in recent days, a sign that investors are starting to anticipate a review of the rule. Interest rate swaps allow traders to hedge interest rate risk by exchanging a floating rate for a fixed rate, or vice versa.
• The anticipation comes after U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said last week that President Donald Trump's administration was focused on containing 10-year Treasury yields, a building block of global financial markets and a benchmark for consumers' borrowing costs.
• The SLR was introduced as part of regulatory efforts following the 2008 global financial crisis. Over time, however, many Treasury market participants have come to see it as a major obstacle to banks providing liquidity to traders, particularly at times of heightened volatility. The Bank Policy Institute (BPI), a trade association representing large U.S. banks, said in a recent paper that a recalibration of the ratio would be crucial to preserving market functioning, particularly given the prospect of rising government debt issuance due to large budget deficits.

Source: (Reuters)