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

This interim final rule provides a graduated transition to a community bank leverage ratio requirement of 9 percent from the temporary 8-percent community bank leverage ratio requirement (transition interim final rule). When the requirements in the transition interim final rule become applicable, the community bank leverage ratio will be 8 percent beginning in the second quarter of calendar year 2020, 8.5 percent through calendar year 2021, and 9 percent thereafter. The transition interim final rule also maintains a two-quarter grace period for a qualifying community banking organization whose leverage ratio falls no more than 1 percentage point below the applicable community bank leverage ratio requirement. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (together, the agencies) issued concurrently an interim final rule that established an 8-percent community bank leverage ratio, as mandated under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act. The agencies are issuing the transition interim final rule to provide community banking organizations with sufficient time and clarity to meet the 9 percent leverage ratio requirement under the community bank leverage ratio framework while they also focus on supporting lending to creditworthy households and businesses given the recent strains on the U.S. economy caused by the coronavirus disease emergency.

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 the renewal of its information collection titled, ``Recordkeeping Requirements for Securities Transactions.'' The OCC also is giving notice that it has sent the collection to OMB for review.

To provide liquidity to small business lenders and the broader credit markets, to help stabilize the financial system, and to provide economic relief to small businesses nationwide, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Board) authorized each of the Federal Reserve Banks to participate in the Paycheck Protection Program Lending Facility (PPPL Facility), pursuant to section 13(3) of the Federal Reserve Act. Under the PPPL Facility, each of the Federal Reserve Banks will extend non-recourse loans to eligible financial institutions to fund loans guaranteed by the Small Business Administration under the Paycheck Protection Program established by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act). To facilitate use of this Federal Reserve facility, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Board, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (together, the agencies) are adopting this interim final rule to allow banking organizations to neutralize the regulatory capital effects of participating in the facility. This treatment is similar to the treatment extended previously by the agencies in connection with the Federal Reserve's Money Market Mutual Fund Liquidity Facility. In addition, as mandated by section 1102 of the CARES Act, loans originated under the Small Business Administration's Paycheck Protection Program will receive a zero percent risk weight under the agencies' regulatory capital rule.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) is proposing to amend its rules relating to policies and procedures for corporate activities and transactions involving national banks and Federal savings associations to update and clarify the policies and procedures, eliminate unnecessary requirements consistent with safety and soundness, and make other technical and conforming changes.