Bank Basel Stall Tactic Could Backfire on GOP: Street Whispers

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Nearly four years after the nation's largest banks received massive federal bailouts and the complete loss of credibility, the industry's latest cynical attempt to throw a monkey wrench into the regulatory works could backfire against Republicans and their bank-friends.

Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-Ala.) -- the Chairman of the House Committee on Financial Services -- on Thursday sent a letter to Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke requesting a 90-day extension to the public comment period on Basel III, conveniently pushing the Fed's final ruling until well after the November elections.

Bachus said that "this rule is extremely complex, so additional time for commenting is certainly justified," and that "a longer comment period will lead to more substantive comments, which in turn will be much more useful to reviewers."

The Federal Reserve, along with the U.S. Treasury, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency on June 7 issued proposed rules to implement the enhanced Basel III capital standards for large banks, seeking comments by Sept. 7.

Public opinion will certainly not take kindly to an attempt to forestall capital requirements that were years in the making, especially in light of the bailout, and bank stock investors have already ponied up plenty of pesos to pay for the bailout, and then some, as banks continue to build their capital positions.