Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Agencies are publishing for comment three documents that set forth proposed supervisory guidance for implementing proposed revisions to the risk-based capital standards in the United States (New Advanced Capital Adequacy Framework or proposed framework). These proposed revisions, which would implement the ``International Convergence of Capital Measurement and Capital Standards: A Revised Framework,'' published in June 2004 by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (Basel II), in the United States, were published in the Federal Register on September 25, 2006 as a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPR or proposed rule). The proposed framework outlined in the NPR would require some and permit other qualifying banks to calculate their regulatory risk-based capital requirements using an internal ratings-based (IRB) approach for credit risk and the advanced measurement approaches (AMA) for operational risk (together, the advanced approaches); it also provides guidelines for the supervisory review process (Pillar 2). The proposed supervisory guidance documents provide additional detail for the advanced approaches and the supervisory review process that should help banks satisfy the qualification requirements in the NPR.

In accordance with requirements of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), the FDIC hereby gives notice that it plans to submit to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) a request for OMB review and approval of the eight information collection systems described below.

In accordance with the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. chapter 35), the OCC, the Board, the FDIC, and the OTS (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. On October 31, 2006, the agencies, under the auspices of the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC), requested public comment for 60 days on a proposal to extend, with revision, the Consolidated Reports of Condition and Income (Call Report) for banks and the Thrift Financial Report (TFR) for savings associations, which are currently approved collections of information. After considering the comments, the FFIEC and the agencies have modified some of the proposed changes, which will be implemented March 31, 2007, as proposed. Additionally, OTS will incorporate in its OMB submission the proposed TFR changes published in the Federal Register on December 1, 2006 (71 FR 69619). These changes will also be implemented March 31, 2007, as proposed.

In accordance with requirements of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), the FDIC hereby gives notice that it plans to submit to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) a request for OMB review and approval of the information collection system described below. The collection would provide information on the features and effects of overdraft protection programs in State nonmember financial institutions.

This notice announces a one-year extension of the termination date of the FDIC's existing moratorium on industrial loan companies and industrial banks \1\ (collectively, ``industrial banks'') for deposit insurance applications and change in control notices with respect to certain industrial banks. The extended moratorium only applies to applications for deposit insurance and change in control notices with respect to industrial banks that will become subsidiaries of companies engaged in non-financial activities \2\ (``commercial activities'').

The Agencies are adopting an Interagency Statement on Sound Practices Concerning Elevated Risk Complex Structured Finance Activities (``Final Statement''). The Final Statement pertains to national banks, state banks, bank holding companies (other than foreign banks), federal and state savings associations, savings and loan holding companies, U.S. branches and agencies of foreign banks, and SEC-registered broker-dealers and investment advisers (collectively, ``financial institutions'' or ``institutions'') engaged in complex structured finance transactions (``CSFTs''). In May 2004, the Agencies issued and requested comment on a proposed interagency statement (``Initial Proposed Statement''). After reviewing the comments received on the Initial Proposed Statement, the Agencies in May 2006 issued and requested comment on a revised proposed interagency statement (``Revised Proposed Statement''). The modifications to the Revised Proposed Statement, among other things, made the statement more principles-based and focused on the identification, review and approval process for those CSFTs that may pose heightened levels of legal or reputational risk to the relevant institution (referred to as ``elevated risk CSFTs''). After carefully reviewing the comments on the Revised Proposed Statement, the Agencies have adopted the Final Statement with minor modifications designed to clarify, but not alter, the principles set forth in the Revised Proposed Statement. The Final Statement describes some of the internal controls and risk management procedures that may help financial institutions identify, manage, and address the heightened reputational and legal risks that may arise from elevated risk CSFTs. As discussed further below, the Final Statement will not affect or apply to the vast majority of financial institutions, including most small institutions, nor does it create any private rights of action.

The OCC, the Board, and the FDIC (collectively, the ``agencies'') are publishing this joint final rule to reinsert a provision that was inadvertently deleted when the agencies revised their Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) regulations in August 2005. This change is technical only and does not make any substantive revisions. The agencies are also amending their CRA regulations to increase the asset-size threshold to be used to define ``small bank'' and ``intermediate small bank.'' The regulation is amended to state the increase in the threshold amount based on the annual percentage change in the Consumer Price Index.

In accordance with requirements of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), the FDIC hereby gives notice that it plans to submit to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) a request for OMB review and approval of the information collection system described below.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Board), Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), and Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS) (collectively, the Agencies) are proposing revisions to the existing risk-based capital framework that would enhance its risk sensitivity without unduly increasing regulatory burden. These changes would apply to banks, bank holding companies, and savings associations (banking organizations). A banking organization would be able to elect to adopt these proposed revisions or remain subject to the Agencies' existing risk-based capital rules, unless it uses the Advanced Capital Adequacy Framework proposed in the notice of proposed rulemaking published on September 25, 2006 (Basel II NPR). In this notice of proposed rulemaking (NPR or Basel IA), the Agencies are proposing to expand the number of risk weight categories, allow the use of external credit ratings to risk weight certain exposures, expand the range of recognized collateral and eligible guarantors, use loan-to-value ratios to risk weight most residential mortgages, increase the credit conversion factor for certain commitments with an original maturity of one year or less, assess a charge for early amortizations in securitizations of revolving exposures, and remove the 50 percent limit on the risk weight for certain derivative transactions. A banking organization would have to apply all the proposed changes if it chose to use these revisions. Finally, in Section III of this NPR, the Agencies seek further comment on possible alternatives for implementing the ``International Convergence of Capital Measurement and Capital Standards: A Revised Framework'' (Basel II) in the United States as proposed in the Basel II NPR.

In accordance with the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. chapter 35), the OCC, the Board, the FDIC, and the OTS (collectively, 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 Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC), of which the agencies are members, approved the agencies' publication for public comment of proposed new regulatory reporting requirements for banks \1\ that qualify for and adopt the Advanced Capital Adequacy Framework to calculate their risk-based capital requirement or banks that are in the parallel run stage of qualifying to adopt this proposed framework. This notice extends the comment period on this document for consistency with the extension of the comment period for the notice of proposed rulemaking on the Advanced Capital Adequacy Framework, as published elsewhere in today's issue of the Federal Register.

In accordance with requirements of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), the FDIC hereby gives notice that it plans to submit to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) a request for OMB review and approval of the information collection system described below.

The FDIC is seeking comment on whether and how the largest insured depository institutions should be required to modify their deposit account systems to speed depositor access to funds in the event of a failure. Today, insured institutions do not track the insured status of their depositors yet the FDIC must make deposit insurance coverage determinations in the event of failure. The current process might result in unacceptable delays if used for an FDIC-insured institution with a large volume of deposit accounts. Such delays would have an impact on depositors' ability to access their funds and are likely to result in a resolution (of the failed institution) significantly more costly to the Deposit Insurance Fund. As currently contemplated, the options discussed in the ANPR would apply only to the 152 insured depository institutions with more than 250,000 deposit accounts and more than $2 billion in domestic deposits, as well as seven additional institutions with total assets over $20 billion, less than 250,000 deposit accounts and at least $2 billion in domestic deposits. In December 2005 the FDIC issued a prior advance notice of proposed rulemaking on this subject (``2005 ANPR'').\1\ This ANPR is a follow-up to that issuance. The FDIC is seeking comment on all aspects of the ANPR.

This proposal would amend existing FDIC ethics regulations involving extensions of credit, ownership of stock, and definitions. This proposal would implement the Preserving Independence of Financial Institution Examinations Act of 2003, which amended sections 212 and 213 of title 18 of the United States Code. These sections continue generally to impose criminal penalties on examiners borrowing from banks they have examined, and financial institutions extending a loan to anyone who examines or has authority to examine that institution. The statutory amendment, however, decriminalizes extensions of credit to examiners for credit cards and for primary residential home loans from institutions that they examine or have authority to examine if these loans are made on the same terms and conditions as are available to other cardholders and borrowers and satisfy other criteria contained in the statute as amended. Additionally, the proposed regulation would clarify and make minor revisions to definitions and restrictions for FDIC employees' acquisition, ownership, or control of securities of FDIC-insured depository institutions and certain holding companies.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Reform Act of 2005 requires that the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (the FDIC) prescribe final regulations, after notice and opportunity for comment, to provide for deposit insurance assessments under section 7(b) of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act (the FDI Act). In this rulemaking, the FDIC is amending its regulations to create a new risk differentiation system, to establish a new base assessment rate schedule, and to set assessment rates effective January 1, 2007.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (``FDIC'') is adopting its final rule amending its regulations concerning penalties for failure to timely pay assessments. The final rule adopts changes made by the Federal Deposit Insurance Reform Act of 2005 (``Reform Act''), which amended provisions of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act (``FDI Act''). The statute generally provides that an insured depository institution which fails or refuses to pay any assessment shall be subject to a penalty of not more than 1 percent of the assessment due for each day the violation continues. The statute includes an exception if the failure to pay results from a dispute with the FDIC over the amount of the assessment and the institution deposits satisfactory security with the FDIC. The statute includes a provision covering assessment amounts of less than $10,000, which authorizes penalties up to $100 per day. Finally, the statute accords the FDIC discretion to compromise, modify or remit any penalty imposed on a finding that good cause prevented timely payment. The final rule amends the FDIC's former rule concerning late assessment penalties, in conformity with these provisions of the Reform Act.

In accordance with the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. chapter 35), the OCC, the Board, the FDIC, and the OTS (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 Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC), of which the agencies are members, has approved the agencies' publication for public comment a proposal to extend, with revision, the Consolidated Reports of Condition and Income (Call Report) for banks and the Thrift Financial Report (TFR) for savings associations, which are currently approved collections of information. At the end of the comment period, the comments and recommendations received will be analyzed to determine the extent to which the FFIEC and the agencies should modify the proposed revisions prior to giving final approval. The agencies will then submit the revisions to OMB for review and approval.

The FDIC is amending its assessments regulations to implement the one-time assessment credit required by the Federal Deposit Insurance Act (FDI Act), as amended by the Federal Deposit Insurance Reform Act of 2005 (Reform Act). The final rule covers: The aggregate amount of the one-time credit; the institutions that are eligible to receive credits; and how to determine the amount of each eligible institution's credit, which for some institutions may be largely dependent on how the FDIC defines ``successor'' for these purposes. The final rule also establishes the qualifications and procedures governing the application of assessment credits, and provides a reasonable opportunity for an institution to challenge administratively the amount of the credit.

On July 24, 2006, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) issued a notice of proposed rulemaking with request for comments to better price deposit insurance for risk as required by the Federal Deposit Insurance Act, as amended by the Federal Deposit Insurance Reform Act (''Reform Act'') (see 71 FR 41910 (July 24, 2006)). The FDIC is supplementing that notice of proposed rulemaking with an initial regulatory flexibility analysis to aid the public in commenting upon the small business impact of its proposed rule.