Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation October 17, 2012 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

On August 30, 2012, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), together with the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (FRB) and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) (together, the agencies) published in the Federal Register a joint notice of proposed rulemaking, titled, ``Regulatory Capital Rules: Standardized Approach for Risk-Weighted Assets; Market Discipline and Disclosure Requirements'' (Standardized Approach NPR or Proposed Rule). The Proposed Rule would revise and harmonize the agencies' rules for calculating risk-weighted assets to enhance risk-sensitivity and address weaknesses identified over recent years, including by incorporating certain international capital standards of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) set forth in the standardized approach of the international accord titled, ``International Convergency of Capital Measurement and Capital Standards: A Revised Framework'', as revised by the BCBS in 2006 and 2009, as well as other proposals set forth in consultative papers of the BCBS. Section 3(a) of the Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA) directs all federal agencies to publish an initial regulatory flexibility analysis (IRFA), or a summary thereof, describing the impact of a proposed rule on small entities anytime an agency is required to publish a notice of proposed rulemaking in the Federal Register. As provided in the Standardized Approach NPR, the agencies are separately publishing initial regulatory flexibility analyses for the Proposed Rule. Accordingly, the FDIC is seeking comment on the IRFA provided in this Federal Register document, which describes the economic impact of the Standardized Approach NPR, in accordance with the requirements of the RFA. Comments received in connection with this IRFA will be considered for purposes of the development of any final rule to implement the Standardized Approach NPR.