The Volcker Rule was proposed by Paul Volcker, former chairman of the Federal Reserve and current chairman of the U.S. President’s Economic Recovery Advisory Committee. Its core is to prohibit banks from engaging in self-operated investment business and prohibit banks from owning , invest in or sponsor hedge funds and private equity funds. Because this law takes an unprecedentedly tough attitude toward banks’ proprietary investment businesses, it was once considered one of the most influential reforms in the U.S. financial regulatory bill. In January 2010, U.S. President Obama gave a speech in which he publicly expressed support for the Volcker Rule and called on Congress to include it in a package of financial reform bills. The Volcker Rule is considered to be able to effectively limit the scale and scope of banks' business, reduce bank systemic risks, and prevent the recurrence of "too big to fail" moral hazard. Some people also compare the Volcker Rule with the Glass-Steagall Act passed by the United States after the Great Depression in 1933, pointing out that both essentially emphasize that banks should operate separately and hope to rebuild the financial freedoms that have been eliminated by the 1999 Financial Freedom Act. The firewall dismantled by the Economic and Social Security Act to repair the risk loopholes exposed by this crisis.

The main contents include the following three points:

First, limit the scale of commercial banks. It is stipulated that the share of a single financial institution in the savings deposit market shall not exceed 10%. This regulation will also be extended to other areas such as non-deposit funds to limit the growth and merger of financial institutions. In fact, the United States passed a bill in 1994 requiring banking mergers and acquisitions not to exceed 10% of the deposit market share. This proposal expands the restrictions to other non-savings fund areas such as short-term financing in the market, limiting banks' ability to use excessive debt for investment. .

The second is to restrict banks from using their own capital to engage in proprietary trading. This transaction is a financial institution using its own capital to buy and sell in the market, rather than acting as an intermediary to execute transactions on behalf of customers. This creates serious market risks during financial crises.

The third is to prohibit banks from owning or financing investments in private equity funds and hedge funds, allowing banks to draw a clear line between traditional lending business and high-risk investment activities such as high leverage, hedging, and private equity. In the future, commercial banks will no longer be allowed to own, invest or launch hedge funds, nor can they own private equity investment funds, nor engage in proprietary trading business that is related to their own profits but not to serving customers.

After the announcement of this plan, the G20 Financial Stability Board (The Financial Stability Board) publicly expressed its support for Obama's banking reform, believing that this policy will play an important role in solving the "too big to fail" problem in the banking industry.

France and the United Kingdom also welcomed this plan. French Finance Minister Lagarde said that Obama's banking reform plan is completely consistent with the French government's position. She called the change in the U.S. government's stance impressive. Bank of England Governor Mervyn King has always insisted that banks must be broken up and split into retail banks and investment banks. Investment banks engaged in high-risk, highly leveraged financial activities should not receive government bailouts.