Office of the Comptroller of the Currency March 2020 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (collectively, the agencies) are inviting comment on an interim final rule that delays the estimated impact on regulatory capital stemming from the implementation of Accounting Standards Update No. 2016-13, Financial InstrumentsCredit Losses, Topic 326, Measurement of Credit Losses on Financial Instruments (CECL). The interim final rule provides banking organizations that implement CECL before the end of 2020 the option to delay for two years an estimate of CECL's effect on regulatory capital, relative to the incurred loss methodology's effect on regulatory capital, followed by a three-year transition period. The agencies are providing this relief to allow such banking organizations to better focus on supporting lending to creditworthy households and businesses in light of recent strains on the U.S. economy as a result of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID- 19), while also maintaining the quality of regulatory capital.

The OCC announces a meeting of the Mutual Savings Association Advisory Committee (MSAAC).

The OCC has adopted an interim final rule adding a reservation of authority provision to the OCC's short-term investment fund (STIF) rule (STIF Rule) for national banks acting in a fiduciary capacity. The reservation of authority addresses the STIF Rule's limits on weighted average portfolio maturity, weighted average portfolio life maturity, and the method for determining those limits. The OCC has also issued an administrative order pursuant to the reservation of authority contained in the interim final rule. The order states that banks seeking to comply with the STIF Rule's portfolio maturity and life limits will be deemed to be in compliance with those requirements, if the STIF maintains a dollar-weighted average portfolio maturity of 120 days or less, and the STIF maintains a dollar-weighted average portfolio life maturity of 180 days or less.

In light of recent disruptions in economic conditions caused by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and current strains in U.S. financial markets, the Board, OCC and FDIC (together, the agencies) are issuing an interim final rule that revises the definition of eligible retained income for all depository institutions, bank holding companies, and savings and loan holding companies subject to the agencies' capital rule (together, a banking organization or banking organizations). The revised definition of eligible retained income will make any automatic limitations on capital distributions that could apply under the agencies' capital rules more gradual.

The OCC, as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, invites the general public and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment on a continuing information collection, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA). In accordance with the requirements of the PRA, the OCC 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 OCC is soliciting comment concerning its information collection titled, ``Extensions of Credit to Insiders and Transactions with Affiliates.'' The OCC also is giving notice that it has sent the collection to OMB for review.