bank holding companies

On September 30, 2020, the Federal Reserve released a proposal to update its capital planning requirements in a number of respects, including to integrate the capital plan rule with the Federal Reserve’s October 2019 final rules tailoring its enhanced prudential standards.  The proposal would make the following notable changes:

  • Replacement of Company-Run Stress Testing for

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On October 22, 2019, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (“GAO”) issued two letters concluding that three Federal Reserve Supervision and Regulation letters, SR 12-17: Consolidated Supervision Framework for Large Financial Institutions, SR 14-8: Consolidated Recovery Planning for Certain Large Domestic Bank Holding Companies, and SR 11-7: Guidance on Model Risk Management, are “rules” under the Congressional Review Act (“CRA”) and therefore must be submitted to Congress and the Comptroller General for review before they can take effect.  The GAO letters respond to requests made by several senators for determinations of whether the three SR letters, as well as SR 15-7: Governance Structure of the Large Institution Supervision Coordinating Committee (LISCC) Supervisory Program, are rules under the CRA.  The GAO concluded that SR 15-7 is not a rule under the CRA.
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Continue Reading GAO Concludes Three SR Letters Are Rules Under Congressional Review Act

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 exemption for all domestic bank holding companies currently subject to CCAR, and to phase out the qualitative objection for U.S. intermediate holding companies of foreign banks (“IHCs”).
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Continue Reading Federal Reserve Eliminates CCAR’s Qualitative Objection for Most Firms

The partial federal government shutdown could affect the timing of processing of certain new merger and acquisition applications by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (the “Board”).

Pursuant to special procedures outlined in a December 2018 notice, the Office of the Federal Register is not publishing documents during the partial government shutdown except where necessary to safeguard human life, protect property, or provide other emergency services consistent with the performance of functions and services exempted under the Antideficiency Act.  Exempt functions and services include activities related to the supervision of the stock markets and commodities and futures exchanges, but not other normal and routine activities of the federal banking regulators.…

Continue Reading Government Shutdown Could Affect Federal Reserve Processing of M&A Applications

On September 10, 2018, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (“OCC”) released a proposed rule to implement section 206 of the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act, codified in section 5A of the Home Owners’ Loan Act (“HOLA”).  Section 5A permits a federal savings association with total consolidated assets of $20 billion or less as of December 31, 2017, to elect to operate as a “covered savings association.”  A covered savings association would have the same rights and privileges as a national bank that has its main office situated in the same location as the home office of the covered savings association, and would be subject to the same duties, restrictions, penalties, liabilities, conditions, and limitations that would apply to such a national bank.  Under the terms of the statute, however, a covered savings association would still be treated as a federal savings association for certain purposes, including governance, dividends, and mergers.
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Continue Reading OCC Releases Proposal to Allow Federal Savings Associations to Exercise National Bank Powers