New York: Some of the biggest US banks cut back on lobbying last year even as Congress tried to impose new rules on the institutions blamed for the economic meltdown.

Bank of America Corp., the largest US lender, reported spending $3.6 million (Dh13.2 million) in 2009, a third of it in the last three months, Senate records show. The total was 12 per cent less than the $4.1 million it spent a year earlier.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. reduced its lobbying costs to $2.8 million in 2009 from $3.3 million in 2008, a 15 per cent decline. Citigroup Inc. spent $5.5 million, unchanged from 2008.

The Consumer Bankers Association, the Arlington, Virginia-based trade group that includes the largest banks as well as PNC Fin-ancial Services Group Inc. and SunTrust Banks Inc., spent $1.4 million, down a third from $2.1 million in 2008.

Threaten the economy

The US House in December passed legislation tightening rules for derivatives and allowing regulators to break apart large firms that threaten the economy.

The measure is pending in the Senate.

Last week, President Barack Obama proposed making banks more secure by requiring them to give up their stakes in hedge funds and private equity funds and imposing new limits on proprietary trading.

The Washington-based Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, whose members include Goldman, Morgan Stanley and New York-based Bank of New York Mellon Corp., cut its spending on lobbying by four per cent in 2009, to $5 million from $5.2 million.

The Financial Services Roundtable, a Washington-based industry trade group, spent $6.9 million, a 12 per cent decline from $7.8 million a year earlier.

The American Bankers Association's spending was unchanged at $8.4 million.

Some financial institutions boosted spending.

New York-based Morgan Stanley spent $2.9 million, up 16 per cent from $2.5 million in 2008, while New York-based JPMorgan Chase & Co. Inc., spent $6.2 million, a 15 per cent increase over $5.4 million in 2008. San Francisco-based Wells Fargo & Co. increased its spending on lobbying to $2.9 million from $2.3 million, a 26 per cent boost.

Shirley Norton, a spokeswoman for Charlotte, North Carolina-based Bank of America, said its spending in 2009's fourth quarter included dues paid to trade associations and coalitions.

At Wells Fargo, spokeswoman Julia Tunis Bernard said the bank's "modest" spending increase followed its merger with Wachovia Corp. "We as a company have doubled in size," she said.