“Banking regulators on Tuesday unveiled a central element of the sweeping 2010 reform law Congress passed in response to the financial crisis.

“Known as the Volcker Rule, the provision introduces a variety of guidelines to limit risk-taking by banks with federally insured deposits. Five federal agencies approved the regulation on Tuesday.

“Although the outline of the rule was set out in the Dodd-Frank financial reform law more than three years ago, financial executives, lobbyists and reform advocates have been anxiously awaiting the full text.

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“Former Republican presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty, who now heads the Financial Services Roundtable lobbying group, said Tuesday that the rule ‘will reduce needed access to capital’ and ‘stifle investments essential to growing jobs and small businesses.’

“But the rule drew praise from financial reform group Better Markets, which said it ‘will not end all gambling activities on Wall Street, but should limit them and reduce the risk to Main Street.”

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