Department of Treasury September 30, 2008 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This document adopts as a final rule, with some changes, interim amendments to title 19 of the Code of Federal Regulations which were published in the Federal Register on June 22, 2007, as CBP Dec. 07-43 to implement the duty-free provisions of the Haitian Hemispheric Opportunity through Partnership Encouragement (``HOPE I'') Act of 2006. The regulatory amendments adopted as a final rule in this document include changes necessitated by enactment of the Haitian Hemispheric Opportunity through Partnership Encouragement (``HOPE II'') Act of 2008.

The Department of the Treasury (``Treasury'') is issuing this proposed rule as part of its implementation of Title I of the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act of 2002 (``TRIA'' or ``the Act''), as amended by the Terrorism Risk Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2007 (``Reauthorization Act''). The Act established a temporary Terrorism Risk Insurance Program (``TRIP'' or ``Program'') under which the Federal Government would share with commercial property and casualty insurers the risk of insured losses from certified acts of terrorism. The Reauthorization Act has now extended the Program until December 31, 2014. This proposed rule is the latest in a series of regulations Treasury has issued to implement the Act. The proposed rule incorporates and implements statutory requirements in section 103(e) of the Act, as amended by the Reauthorization Act, for capping the annual liability for insured losses at $100 billion. In particular, the proposed rule describes how Treasury intends to determine the pro rata share of insured losses under the Program when insured losses would otherwise exceed the cap on annual liability. The rule builds upon previous rules issued by Treasury.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Board), the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), and the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS) (collectively, the Agencies) are proposing to permit banks, bank holding companies, and savings associations (collectively, banking organizations) to reduce the amount of goodwill that a banking organization must deduct from tier 1 capital by the amount of any deferred tax liability associated with that goodwill. The proposed change would effectively reduce the amount of goodwill that a banking organization must deduct from tier 1 capital and would reflect a banking organization's maximum exposure to loss in the event that such goodwill is impaired or derecognized for financial reporting purposes.