The largest U.S. banks, including Wells Fargo & Co. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. — both with branches in Connecticut — boosted their spending on lobbying in 2011’s first quarter as the Obama administration began writing regulations required by the new financial services law and congressional Republicans moved to repeal or amend it, Bloomberg News reports.
The 10 biggest U.S. banks by assets spent more than $11 million on lobbying from January through March, up from the $10.3 million during the same period a year ago, when Congress was debating the most extensive federal banking regulations since the Great Depression. The measure passed in July.
The U.S. government is drafting rules to comply with the law’s provisions, while House Republicans try to change some of the regulations and Senate Republicans push for repealing them.
“The banks see an opportunity to weaken reform and they’re pulling out all the stops,” said Ed Mierzwinski, consumer program director for the Boston-based U.S. Public Interest Research Group, which supports stronger banking regulations.
Wells Fargo spent $1.9 million on first-quarter lobbying this year, up from $1 million last year. JPMorgan increased its spending to $1.8 million from $1.5 million. Goldman Sachs Group spent $1.3 million, compared with $1.2 million a year earlier.
Richele Messick, a spokeswoman for San Francisco-based Wells Fargo, and Stephen Cohen, a spokesman for New York-based Goldman Sachs, declined to comment. Jennifer Zuccarelli, a spokeswoman for New York-based JPMorgan, didn’t return a phone call and e-mail seeking comment.
