The mantra for Wall Street firms when it comes to Dodd-Frank should be "never say never". Dodd-Frank may be the law of the land, but the specifics are still being worked out by a resource-challenged SEC. For Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS), the biggest issue still to be decided is the Volcker Rule.

In general, the Volcker Rule sought to prohibit banks from engaging in risky proprietary trading with their own capital and from investing directly in hedge funds and private equity funds. The rule has already had a big impact on banks, including Goldman, which has disbanded at least two prop trading units.

But the firm is still "totally freaked out about Volcker," a Goldman lobbyist told Reuters.

The Volcker Rule is to take effect July 21. So it's crunch time for Goldman, and the firm is apparently going all out to shape the rule to its liking. CEO Lloyd Blankfein met recently with SEC Chairman Mary Shapiro and the rule was definitely discussed.

Goldman's main concern is most likely its principal investment activity. As a result of its post-crash reforms, the bank has styled principal investing as an "investing and lending" operation, which encompasses a lot of direct investment activity, such as the investment in Industrial and Commercial Bank of China.

Principal investing remains critical to the bank. Revenue from the unit rose 37 percent to $2.71 billion in the first quarter of 2011, up from $1.97 billion a year earlier and compared with $1.99 billion in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs intends to preserve this.

For more:
- here's the article

Related Articles:
Goldman's special situations unit tests Volcker Rule
Will regulators strike on Goldman's principal activity?
Paul Volcker unhappy with the Volcker Rule?