Legislation would ease some banking regulations

A bipartisan group of senators Monday announced a deal on legislation to provide banks and credit unions relief from some of the stricter regulatory requirements approved after the 2008 financial crisis.

The lawmakers said the measure is targeted at helping local community banks, but it also includes regulatory relief for larger financial institutions.

For example, the agreement would raise the threshold at which bank holding companies are considered too big to fail and are subject to stricter capital and planning requirements. Under the agreement, the threshold moves from $50 billion in assets to $250 billion.