On January 18, the Financial Stability Oversight Council issued a study required by the Dodd-Frank Act entitled, “Study & Recommendations on Prohibitions on Proprietary Trading & Certain Relationships with Hedge Funds & Private Equity Funds”. The study recommends, among other things, that rulemaking agencies consider providing exceptions for certain funds that are within the Volcker Rule’s broad definition of “hedge fund” and “private equity fund”. FSOC Study.