Federal Reserve System March 2014 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Board is adopting amendments to Regulation YY to implement certain of the enhanced prudential standards required to be established under section 165 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act for bank holding companies and foreign banking organizations with total consolidated assets of $50 billion or more. The enhanced prudential standards include risk-based and leverage capital requirements, liquidity standards, requirements for overall risk management (including establishing a risk committee), stress-test requirements, and a 15-to-1 debt-to-equity limit for companies that the Financial Stability Oversight Council (Council) has determined pose a grave threat to financial stability. The amendments also establish risk-committee requirements and capital stress-testing requirements for certain bank holding companies and foreign banking organizations with total consolidated assets of $10 billion or more. The rule does not impose enhanced prudential standards on nonbank financial companies designated by the Council for supervision by the Board.

Notice is hereby given of the final approval of a proposed information collection by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Board) under OMB delegated authority, pursuant to 5 CFR 1320.16 (OMB Regulations on Controlling Paperwork Burdens on the Public). Board-approved collections of information are incorporated into the official OMB inventory of currently approved collections of information. Copies of the Paperwork Reduction Act Submission, supporting statement and approved collection of information instrument(s) are placed into OMB's public docket files. The Federal Reserve may not conduct or sponsor, and the respondent is not required to respond to, an information collection that has been extended, revised, or implemented on or after October 1, 1995, unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number.

The Board is adopting a final rule to require a bank holding company with total consolidated assets of $50 billion or more to estimate its tier 1 common ratio using the exiting definition for purposes of the Board's capital plan and stress test rules; defer until October 1, 2015, the use of the Board's advanced approaches rule for purposes of the Board's capital planning and stress testing rules; maintain the one-year transition period in the current stress test cycle during which bank holding companies and most state member banks with more than $10 billion but less than $50 billion in total consolidated assets are not required to incorporate the Board's Basel III-based revised regulatory capital framework that the Board approved on July 2, 2013 (revised capital framework); and make minor, conforming changes to the Board's capital plan rule and stress test rules. The final rule maintains all the changes to the Board's capital plan rule and stress test rules that were required under two interim final rules that the Board issued in September 2013, except that under the final rule, no banking organization is required to use the advanced approaches rule for purposes of the capital planning and stress testing rules until 2015.

Notice is hereby given of the final approval of proposed information collections by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Board) under OMB delegated authority, as per 5 CFR 1320.16 (OMB Regulations on Controlling Paperwork Burdens on the Public). Board-approved collections of information are incorporated into the official OMB inventory of currently approved collections of information. Copies of the Paperwork Reduction Act Submission, supporting statements and approved collection of information instrument(s) are placed into OMB's public docket files. The Federal Reserve may not conduct or sponsor, and the respondent is not required to respond to, an information collection that has been extended, revised, or implemented on or after October 1, 1995, unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number.

On January 21, 2014, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Board) published in the Federal Register an advance notice of proposed rulemaking inviting public comment on various issues related to physical commodity activities conducted by financial holding companies and the restrictions imposed on these activities to ensure they are conducted in a safe and sound manner and consistent with applicable law. Due to the range and complexity of the issues addressed in the advance notice of proposed rulemaking, the Board has determined that an extension of the public comment period until April 16, 2014, is appropriate. This action will allow interested persons additional time to analyze the notice and prepare their comments.