Federal Reserve System – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Board invites comment on an interim final rule that provides a one-year transition period during which bank holding companies and most state member banks with more than $10 billion but less than $50 billion in total consolidated assets would not be required to reflect the revised regulatory capital framework that the Board approved on July 2, 2013 (revised capital framework) in their stress tests for the stress test cycle that begins October 1, 2013. For this stress test cycle, these companies will be required to estimate their pro forma capital levels and ratios over the full nine-quarter planning horizon using the Board's current regulatory capital rules. The interim final rule also clarifies when a banking organization would estimate its minimum regulatory capital ratios using the advanced approaches for a given stress test cycle.

On June 15, 1984, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) delegated to the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Board) its approval authority under the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA), pursuant to 5 CFR 1320.16, to approve of and assign OMB control numbers to collection of information requests and requirements conducted or sponsored by the Board under conditions set forth in 5 CFR part 1320 Appendix A.1. 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 instruments 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 of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Board) is adopting a final rule to implement section 318 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank Act). Section 318 directs the Board to collect assessments, fees, or other charges equal to the total expenses the Board estimates are necessary or appropriate to carry out the supervisory and regulatory responsibilities of the Board for bank holding companies and savings and loan holding companies with total consolidated assets of $50 billion or more and nonbank financial companies designated for Board supervision by the Financial Stability Oversight Council.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Board), and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) (collectively, the agencies) are seeking comment on a proposal that would strengthen the agencies' leverage ratio standards for large, interconnected U.S. banking organizations. The proposal would apply to any U.S. top-tier bank holding company (BHC) with at least $700 billion in total consolidated assets or at least $10 trillion in assets under custody (covered BHC) and any insured depository institution (IDI) subsidiary of these BHCs. In the revised capital approaches adopted by the agencies in July, 2013 (2013 revised capital approaches), the agencies established a minimum supplementary leverage ratio of 3 percent (supplementary leverage ratio), consistent with the minimum leverage ratio adopted by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS), for banking organizations subject to the advanced approaches risk-based capital rules. In this notice of proposed rulemaking (proposal or proposed rule), the agencies are proposing to establish a ``well capitalized'' threshold of 6 percent for the supplementary leverage ratio for any IDI that is a subsidiary of a covered BHC, under the agencies' prompt corrective action (PCA) framework. The Board also proposes to establish a new leverage buffer for covered BHCs above the minimum supplementary leverage ratio requirement of 3 percent (leverage buffer). The leverage buffer would function like the capital conservation buffer for the risk-based capital ratios in the 2013 revised capital approaches. A covered BHC that maintains a leverage buffer of tier 1 capital in an amount greater than 2 percent of its total leverage exposure would not be subject to limitations on distributions and discretionary bonus payments. The proposal would take effect beginning on January 1, 2018. The agencies seek comment on all aspects of this proposal.