Federal Reserve System 2018 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Board) invites comment on a proposal to extend for three years, with revision, the Complex Institution Liquidity Monitoring Report (FR 2052a; OMB No. 7100-0361).

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (collectively, the agencies) are inviting comment on a proposal that would establish risk-based categories for determining applicability of requirements under the regulatory capital rule, the liquidity coverage ratio rule, and the proposed net stable funding ratio rule for large U.S. banking organizations. The proposal would establish four categories of standards and apply tailored capital and liquidity requirements for banking organizations subject to each category. The proposal is consistent with a separate proposal issued by the Board that would apply certain prudential standards for large U.S. banking organizations based on the same categories. The proposal would not amend the capital and liquidity requirements currently applicable to an intermediate holding company of a foreign banking organization or its subsidiary depository institutions. This proposal also would not amend the requirements applicable to Federal branches or agencies of foreign banking organizations.

The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (together, the agencies) are inviting public comment on a proposal that would implement a new approach for calculating the exposure amount of derivative contracts under the agencies' regulatory capital rule. The proposed approach, called the standardized approach for counterparty credit risk (SA-CCR), would replace the current exposure methodology (CEM) as an additional methodology for calculating advanced approaches total risk-weighted assets under the capital rule. An advanced approaches banking organization also would be required to use SA-CCR to calculate its standardized total risk-weighted assets; a non-advanced approaches banking organization could elect to use either CEM or SA-CCR for calculating its standardized total risk-weighted assets. In addition, the proposal would modify other aspects of the capital rule to account for the proposed implementation of SA-CCR. Specifically, the proposal would require an advanced approaches banking organization to use SA-CCR with some adjustments to determine the exposure amount of derivative contracts for calculating total leverage exposure (the denominator of the supplementary leverage ratio). The proposal also would incorporate SA-CCR into the cleared transactions framework and would make other amendments, generally with respect to cleared transactions. The proposed introduction of SA-CCR would indirectly affect the Board's single counterparty credit limit rule, along with other rules. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency also is proposing to update cross-references to CEM and add SA-CCR as an option for determining exposure amounts for derivative contracts in its lending limit rules.

On August 6, 2018, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Board) published a final rule in the Federal Register (83 FR 38460) regarding Single-Counterparty Credit Limits for Bank Holding Companies and Foreign Banking Organizations. That document included certain incorrect paragraph designations. This document corrects those typographical errors in subparts H and Q of Regulation YY.

The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Board) invites comment on a proposal to extend for three years, with revision, the Financial Statements for Holding Companies (FR Y-9 family of reports) (OMB No. 7100-0128), the Financial Statements of U.S. Nonbank Subsidiaries Held by Foreign Banking Organizations (FR Y-7N family of reports) (OMB No. 7100-0125), the Bank Holding Company Report of Insured Depository Institutions' Section 23A Transactions with Affiliates (FR Y-8) (OMB No. 7100-0126), the Financial Statements of U.S. Nonbank Subsidiaries of U.S. Holding Companies (FR Y-11 family of reports) (OMB No. 7100-0244), the Domestic Finance Company Report of Consolidated Assets and Liabilities (FR 2248) (OMB No. 7100-0005), the Financial Statements of Foreign Subsidiaries of U.S. Banking Organizations (FR 2314 family of reports) (OMB No. 7100-0073), the Quarterly Savings and Loan Holding Company Report (FR 2320) (OMB No. 7100-0345), the Weekly Report of Selected Assets and Liabilities of Domestically Chartered Commercial Banks and U.S. Branches and Agencies of Foreign Banks (FR 2644) (OMB No. 7100-0075), and the Consolidated Report of Condition and Income for Edge and Agreement Corporations (FR 2886b) (OMB No. 7100-0086).

The Board and the Bureau (Agencies) are proposing amendments to Regulation CC, which implements the Expedited Funds Availability Act (EFA Act) (2018 Proposal), and are also providing an additional opportunity for public comment on certain amendments to Regulation CC that the Board proposed in 2011 (2011 Funds Availability Proposal). In the 2018 Proposal, the Agencies are proposing a calculation methodology for implementing a statutory requirement to adjust the dollar amounts in the EFA Act every five years by the aggregate annual percentage increase in the Consumer Price Index for Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) rounded to the nearest multiple of $25. The 2018 Proposal would also implement the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act (EGRRCPA) amendments to the EFA Act, which include extending coverage to American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and Guam, and would make certain other technical amendments. With regard to reopening comments on the 2011 Funds Availability Proposal, the Board published proposed amendments to Regulation CC in the Federal Register on March 25, 2011. As discussed in SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION, the Board and the Bureau now have joint rulemaking authority with respect to part of Regulation CC, related definitions, and appendices of the amendments that the Board proposed on that date. The Board and the Bureau are reopening the comment period for the 2011 Funds Availability Proposal.

The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Board) invites comment on a proposal to extend for three years, without revision, the Recordkeeping Provisions Associated with the Guidance on Sound Incentive Compensation Policies (FR 4027; OMB No. 7100-0327).

The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Board) is publishing final amendments to Regulation J. The amendments clarify and simplify certain provisions Regulation J, remove obsolete provisions, and align the rights and obligations of sending banks, paying banks, and Federal Reserve Banks (Reserve Banks) with the Board's recent amendments to Regulation CC to reflect the virtually all-electronic check collection and return environment. The final rule also amends Regulation J to clarify that terms used in financial messaging standards, such as ISO 20022, do not confer legal status or responsibilities.

The Board is requesting comment on a proposed rule that would establish risk-based categories for determining prudential standards for large U.S. banking organizations, consistent with section 401 of the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act. The proposal would also amend certain prudential standards, including standards relating to liquidity, risk management, stress testing, and single-counterparty credit limits, to reflect the risk profiles of banking organizations under each proposed category of standards and would apply prudential standards to certain large savings and loan holding companies using the same categories. In addition, the proposal would make corresponding changes to reporting forms. Separately, the Board, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC, and together with the Board and the OCC, the agencies), are proposing amendments to the agencies' capital and liquidity requirements based on the same categories. The proposal would not apply to foreign banking organizations, including to an intermediate holding company of a foreign banking organization.

The OCC, the Board, and the Bureau are finalizing amendments to the official interpretations for their regulations that implement section 129H of the Truth in Lending Act (TILA). Section 129H of TILA establishes special appraisal requirements for ``higher-risk mortgages,'' termed ``higher-priced mortgage loans'' or ``HPMLs'' in the agencies' regulations. The OCC, the Board, the Bureau, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA), and the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) (collectively, the Agencies) issued joint final rules implementing these requirements, effective January 18, 2014. The Agencies' rules exempted, among other loan types, transactions of $25,000 or less, and required that this loan amount be adjusted annually based on any annual percentage increase in the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W). If there is no annual percentage increase in the CPI-W, the OCC, the Board, and the Bureau will not adjust this exemption threshold from the prior year. However, in years following a year in which the exemption threshold was not adjusted, the threshold is calculated by applying the annual percentage increase in the CPI-W to the dollar amount that would have resulted, after rounding, if the decreases and any subsequent increases in the CPI-W had been taken into account. Based on the CPI-W in effect as of June 1, 2018, the exemption threshold will increase from $26,000 to $26,700, effective January 1, 2019.

The Board and the Bureau are finalizing amendments to the official interpretations and commentary for the agencies' regulations that implement the Consumer Leasing Act (CLA). The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank Act) amended the CLA by requiring that the dollar threshold for exempt consumer leases be adjusted annually by the annual percentage increase in the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W). If there is no annual percentage increase in the CPI-W, the Board and the Bureau will not adjust this exemption threshold from the prior year. However, in years following a year in which the exemption threshold was not adjusted, the threshold is calculated by applying the annual percentage change in the CPI-W to the dollar amount that would have resulted, after rounding, if the decreases and any subsequent increases in the CPI-W had been taken into account. Based on the annual percentage increase in the CPI-W as of June 1, 2018, the exemption threshold will increase from $55,800 to $57,200 effective January 1, 2019. Because the Dodd-Frank Act also requires similar adjustments in the Truth in Lending Act's threshold for exempt consumer credit transactions, the Board and the Bureau are making similar amendments to each of their respective regulations implementing the Truth in Lending Act elsewhere in this issue of the Federal Register.

The Board is adopting a new rating system for large financial institutions in order to align with the Federal Reserve's current supervisory programs and practices for these firms. The final rating system applies to bank holding companies and non-insurance, non- commercial savings and loan holding companies with total consolidated assets of $100 billion or more, and U.S. intermediate holding companies of foreign banking organizations established under Regulation YY with total consolidated assets of $50 billion or more. The rating system will assign component ratings for capital planning and positions, liquidity risk management and positions, and governance and controls, and introduces a new rating scale. The Federal Reserve will assign initial ratings under the new rating system in 2019 for bank holding companies and U.S. intermediate holding companies subject to the Large Institution Supervision Coordinating Committee framework and in 2020 for all other large financial institutions. The Board is revising provisions in Regulations K and LL so they will remain consistent with certain features of the new rating system.