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UPDATE: Break up Citi, JPMorgan, BofA, senators say

A new Senate proposal would break up the biggest US banks

Friday update: Safe to say this caught the banks off guard. Spokespeople for all three of the companies named here declined to comment. One sent me to the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, which sent me to the American Bankers' Association, which sent me to the Financial Roundtable that represents the biggest banks... See also in my column in the print Inquirer this morning: 

Thursday: "Citigroup, Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase would have to scale down by about 40%" if a bill cosponsored by Sens. Ted Kaufman, D-Del., and Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and backed by Bob Casey, D-Pa., among other Democrats, gets added to the Democratic banking-reform bill, according to statements distributed by Kaufman's office. (Found a copy of the FAQ and summary Kaufman put out, posted online here at liberal think tank demos.org)

The bill would set caps on bank deposit size, debt levels, and non-deposit liabilities to ensure they'll never again be so big that the nation would miss them if they failed again and weren't bailed out next time.

The three big banks, together, employ over 10,000 workers in Kaufman's home state.  Kaufman statement on his bill, S-3733 here.