Federal Housing Finance Agency November 8, 2013 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

Section 939A of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank Act) requires Federal agencies to review regulations that require the use of an assessment of the credit- worthiness of a security or money market instrument and any references to, or requirements in, such regulations regarding credit ratings issued by credit rating organizations registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as nationally recognized statistical rating organizations (NRSROs), and to remove such references or requirements. To implement this provision, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) proposed on May 23, 2013, to amend certain of its rules and remove a number of references and requirements in certain safety and soundness regulations affecting the Federal Home Loan Banks (Banks). To replace the provisions that referenced NRSRO ratings, FHFA proposed to add requirements that the Banks apply internal analytic standards and criteria to determine the credit quality of a security or obligation, subject to FHFA oversight and review through the examination and supervisory process. FHFA also proposed to delete certain provisions from its regulations that contained references to NRSRO credit ratings because they appeared duplicative of other requirements or because they applied only to Banks that had not converted to the capital structure required by the Gramm- Leach-Bliley Act (GLB Act) and no longer applied to any Bank. After considering the comments received on its notice of proposed rulemaking (Proposed Rule), FHFA has determined to adopt as final these proposed rule amendments without change.