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America’s biggest banks will have to hold an extra $68bn of cash on their balance sheets under stringent new rules designed to prevent a repeat of the 2008 financial crisis.  US regulators have also signaled they would like to tighten banking rules even further, as they introduced the new rule requiring lenders including JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs to shore up their capital reserves.  Under the new legislation, approved last night by the US Federal Reserve, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and Comptroller of Currency, the eight largest US banks will have to hold at least 5pc of their total assets in cash, instead of the 3pc previously required.   The rule, which will come into force in 2018, is the latest in a sweeping set of reforms designed to ensure banks have enough money to cover their losses in the event of a major financial disaster.   The change is expected to weigh on the profits of those banks affected as they will not be able to put quite as much of their cash to work. However, the Fed signaled yesterday that it may yet go further. Dan Tarullo, the Fed’s regulation tsar, said the central bank may “increase the risk-based capital surcharge for US systemically important firms to a higher level than the minimum agreed to internationally”.   Such a change is particularly serious for investment banks such as Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, who do not have retail banking operations that accept cash deposits from customers.  However, all of the affected banks, including Citigroup, Bank of New York Mellon, Wells Fargo and State Street, will have to take the new capital requirements into consideration as they weigh up whether to pay dividends.