Office of the Comptroller of the Currency August 2013 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Board), and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) (collectively, the agencies) are seeking comment on a proposal that would strengthen the agencies' leverage ratio standards for large, interconnected U.S. banking organizations. The proposal would apply to any U.S. top-tier bank holding company (BHC) with at least $700 billion in total consolidated assets or at least $10 trillion in assets under custody (covered BHC) and any insured depository institution (IDI) subsidiary of these BHCs. In the revised capital approaches adopted by the agencies in July, 2013 (2013 revised capital approaches), the agencies established a minimum supplementary leverage ratio of 3 percent (supplementary leverage ratio), consistent with the minimum leverage ratio adopted by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS), for banking organizations subject to the advanced approaches risk-based capital rules. In this notice of proposed rulemaking (proposal or proposed rule), the agencies are proposing to establish a ``well capitalized'' threshold of 6 percent for the supplementary leverage ratio for any IDI that is a subsidiary of a covered BHC, under the agencies' prompt corrective action (PCA) framework. The Board also proposes to establish a new leverage buffer for covered BHCs above the minimum supplementary leverage ratio requirement of 3 percent (leverage buffer). The leverage buffer would function like the capital conservation buffer for the risk-based capital ratios in the 2013 revised capital approaches. A covered BHC that maintains a leverage buffer of tier 1 capital in an amount greater than 2 percent of its total leverage exposure would not be subject to limitations on distributions and discretionary bonus payments. The proposal would take effect beginning on January 1, 2018. The agencies seek comment on all aspects of this proposal.

The OCC, as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, invites the general public and other Federal agencies to comment on the renewal of a information collection, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA). An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a respondent is not required to respond to, an information collection unless it displays a currently valid Office of Management and Budget (OMB) control number. The OCC is soliciting comment concerning the renewal of an information collection titled, ``Interagency Statement on Complex Structured Finance Transactions.'' The OCC is also giving notice that it has sent the collection to OMB for review.

In accordance with the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) of 1995 (44 U.S.C. chapter 35), the OCC, the Board, and the FDIC (the agencies) may not conduct or sponsor, and the respondent is not required to respond to, an information collection unless it displays a currently valid Office of Management and Budget (OMB) control number. The agencies, under the auspices of the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC), have approved the publication for public comment of proposed revisions to regulatory capital components and ratios portion of Schedule RC-R, Regulatory Capital, in the Consolidated Reports of Condition and Income (Call Report or FFIEC 031 and FFIEC 041) and to the Risk-Based Capital Reporting for Institutions Subject to the Advanced Capital Adequacy Framework (FFIEC 101). The proposed revisions to the Call Report and the FFIEC 101 are consistent with the revised regulatory capital rules approved by the agencies during July 2013 (revised regulatory capital rules).\1\

The Board, FDIC and OCC, (collectively, the ``agencies'') are issuing this guidance, which outlines high-level principles for implementation of section 165(i)(2) of the Dodd-Frank Act Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (``DFA'') stress tests, applicable to all bank and savings-and-loan holding companies, national banks, state-member banks, state non-member banks, Federal savings associations, and state chartered savings associations with more than $10 billion but less than $50 billion in total consolidated assets (collectively, the ``$10-50 billion companies''). The guidance discusses supervisory expectations for DFA stress test practices and offers additional details about methodologies that should be employed by these companies. It also underscores the importance of stress testing as an ongoing risk management practice that supports a company's forward-looking assessment of its risks and better equips the company to address a range of macroeconomic and financial outcomes.