On May 15, 2020, the federal banking agencies issued an interim final rule to permit depository institutions to exclude from their supplementary leverage ratio (“SLR”) denominators through March 31, 2021 the balance sheet value of U.S. Treasury securities and funds on deposit at a Federal Reserve Bank, subject to restrictions on capital distributions. The interim … Continue Reading
Today, March 23, 2020, the Federal Reserve issued an interim final rule that revises the definition of “eligible retained income” for purposes of the total loss-absorbing capacity (“TLAC”) buffer requirements that apply to global systemically important banking organizations (“G-SIBs”). The rule amends the “eligible retained income” definition in the same manner as the federal banking … Continue Reading
The federal banking agencies issued a final rule today that permits banking organizations not subject to the advanced approaches capital rules to adopt simplifications to the calculation of their regulatory capital beginning January 1, 2020, rather than April 1, 2020 as was originally finalized in July 2019.… Continue Reading
On October 17, 2019, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and National Credit Union Administration released for public comment a proposed interagency policy statement on allowances for credit losses (“ACLs”). The proposed policy statement reflects the Financial Accounting Standards Board’s adoption … Continue Reading
On July 9, 2019, the federal banking agencies released a final rule to simplify aspects of the regulatory capital rules for banking organizations that are not “advanced approaches” banking organizations, i.e., those with less than $250 billion in total consolidated assets and less than $10 billion in total foreign exposure. Initially proposed in September 2017 … Continue Reading
On April 2, 2019, the federal banking agencies proposed a rule that would require large banking organizations to deduct from their regulatory capital certain investments in total loss-absorbing capacity (“TLAC”) debt issued by global systemically important banking organizations (“G-SIBs”) rather than to risk-weight such investments as is currently done. The rule is intended to reduce … Continue Reading
On March 29, 2019, the board of the FDIC approved a notice of proposed rulemaking that would revise the supplementary leverage ratio (“SLR”) to exclude certain deposits placed at central banks from custodial banks’ SLR denominators, implementing section 402 of the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act (“EGRRCPA”). The OCC and Federal Reserve … Continue Reading
On March 6, 2019, the Federal Reserve issued a final rule to exempt from the qualitative component of the Comprehensive Capital Analysis and Review (“CCAR”) exercise large firms that have participated in CCAR for four consecutive years and have passed the final year’s qualitative component without objection. The final rule serves to provide an immediate … Continue Reading
In a November 9, 2018 speech, Federal Reserve Vice Chairman for Supervision Randal K. Quarles outlined potential adjustments to the revisions to the capital planning regime that the Federal Reserve proposed in April 2018. Governor Quarles also said he will ask the Federal Reserve to exempt banks with less than $250 billion in assets from … Continue Reading
For several years Swap Dealers registered with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) have been awaiting action by the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) related to security-based swap dealers. While the wait is by no means over, on October 11, 2018 the SEC voted 4 to 1 to reopen the comment period for proposed rules … Continue Reading
On Tuesday October 2, leaders of the federal prudential regulators testified before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs (“Banking Committee”) on their agencies’ efforts to implement the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act (“EGRRCPA” or the “Act”). All of the regulators expressed support for the goals of EGRRCPA, particularly with … Continue Reading
Following enactment of the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief and Consumer Protection Act (“EGRRCPA”) in May 2018, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (“FRB”), the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (“OCC”), and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (“FDIC” and collectively, the “Agencies”), have begun the process of implementing the regulatory relief … Continue Reading
On December 7, 2017, the Federal Reserve released three proposals that would increase the transparency of its stress test exercises, including the Dodd-Frank Act Stress Tests (“DFAST”) and Comprehensive Capital Analysis and Review (“CCAR”). The proposals are comprised of: (1) enhancements to the Federal Reserve’s disclosures regarding its stress test models, (2) amendments to the … Continue Reading
On June 12, 2017, the U.S. Department of the Treasury released the first of a series of reports recommending regulatory reforms to the financial system consistent with President Trump’s Core Principles for Regulating the United States Financial System. Treasury’s first report focuses on the regulatory framework governing the depository system. Notably, a substantial portion of … Continue Reading
The Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) will hold an open meeting on June 12, 2017, to hear concerns from financial institutions regarding FASB’s recently finalized Accounting Standards Update for measuring credit losses on financial instruments (the Current Expected Credit Loss standard, or “CECL”) under Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (“GAAP”). FASB issued the new CECL standard … Continue Reading
Senators Jon Tester, D-Mont., and Jerry Moran, R-Kan., introduced a bill today (S. 1139) that would raise the threshold for a banking organization to be subject to Dodd-Frank Act Stress Tests (DFAST) to $50 billion in total consolidated assets from the current $10 billion threshold. The bill, titled the Main Street Regulatory Fairness Act, would … Continue Reading
On April 19, 2017, the House Financial Services Committee released a new discussion draft of the Financial CHOICE Act, its comprehensive regulatory reform bill. The Committee released the first version of the CHOICE Act in June 2016. Buoyed by the election of a Republican president, and following several months of public and industry outreach, Committee … Continue Reading
On April 4, 2017, Federal Reserve Board Governor Daniel K. Tarullo gave his final speech as a governor before his departure from the Board the next day. Governor Tarullo, widely considered the “most influential Wall Street regulator” during his term as governor, took the lead for the Federal Reserve in developing the agency’s most significant … Continue Reading
On March 30, 2017, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (“BCBS”) issued a consultative document to revise the methodology it uses to measure the systemic importance of internationally active banks. The BCBS methodology incorporates various quantitative indicators of a bank’s “Cross-Jurisdictional Activity,” “Size,” “Interconnectedness,” “Substitutability,” and “Complexity” to arrive at a single score of each … Continue Reading
On December 15, 2016, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (the “Federal Reserve”) issued a final rule requiring global systemically important banking organizations (“G-SIBs”) to issue minimum amounts of “plain vanilla” unsecured long-term debt and total loss-absorbing capacity (“TLAC”) instruments, and to maintain so-called “clean” holding companies that have no “runnable” liabilities. … Continue Reading
Today, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision issued its final standard on the regulatory capital treatment of banking organizations’ holdings of Total Loss Absorbing Capacity (“TLAC”) and related instruments issued by global systemically important banking organizations (“G-SIBs”). The final standard has important implications for the marketability and liquidity of TLAC and other instruments that G-SIBs … Continue Reading
