At approximately 5:39 a.m. on Friday morning, after a 20-hour marathon of negotiations, the House-Senate conference committee reached a final agreement to reconcile competing versions of the financial regulatory bill.

The agreement was reached once the final issues on derivatives trading and the Volcker Rule were resolved with the approval of proposals requiring banks and their parent companies to segregate much of their derivative activities and to restrict trading by banks for their own benefit.

The committee members voted on a party-line vote, with the House conferees voting 20-11 to approve the bill, and the Senate conferees voting 7-5 to approve. The agreement cleared the way for both houses of Congress to vote on the full financial regulatory bill next week.