Regulators reject Wall Street's calls to extend Covid relief for big banks

Federal regulators said Friday they won't extend a Covid relief provision granted to big banks, dashing Wall Street's hopes for an extension.

Last spring, when the economy and markets were in chaos, the Federal Reserve handed a sort of "get out of jail free" card to America's big banks: It loosened leverage rules that JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Bank of America (BAC) and other large lenders must abide by. But on Friday, US regulators said they would allow the leverage exemption to expire at the end of the month, explaining that the "temporary change was made to provide flexibility" to banks — allowing them to keep providing credit to families and businesses during the pandemic.