Fed

Fed Assessments on Large Financial Companies

On August 16, the Fed issued a final rule establishing annual assessment fees for its supervision and regulation of large financial companies (with $50 billion or more in total consolidated assets).  Beginning with the 2013 assessment period, the Federal Reserve will notify each company of the amount of its assessment fee no later than June 30 of the year following the assessment period.  Payments will be due by September 15.  The final rule is effective on October 25.  Fed ReleaseFed Final Rule.

Joint Release on Stress-Test Guidance

On July 30, the FDIC, Fed and OCC released a request for comment on proposed guidance describing supervisory expectations for stress tests required by the Dodd-Frank Act to be conducted on medium-sized financial companies (with total consolidated assets between $10 billion and $50 billion).  Comments on the proposed guidance must be submitted by September 25.  Joint ReleaseProposed Guidance.

Appraisal Exemption for Higher-Priced Mortgages

On July 10, the Fed, the CFPB, the FDIC, the FHFA and the OCC issued a joint proposed rule which would create exemptions from certain appraisal requirements for a subset of higher-priced mortgage loans.  The proposed rule would provide exemptions for:  (i) transactions secured by existing manufactured homes and not land; (ii) certain “streamlined” refinancings; and (iii) transactions of $25,000 or less.  Comments must be received on or before September 9.  Joint ReleaseProposed Rule.

Joint Proposal on Leverage Ratio Standards

On July 9, the Fed, the FDIC and the OCC issued a joint proposed rule to strengthen the leverage ratio standards for large, systemically significant U.S. banking organizations.  Under the proposed rule, bank holding companies with more than $700 billion in consolidated total assets or $10 trillion in assets under custody (covered BHCs) would be required to maintain a tier 1 capital leverage buffer of at least 2 percent above the minimum supplementary leverage ratio requirement of 3 percent, for a total of 5 percent.  The proposed rule would be effective on January 1, 2018.  Comments must be submitted within 60 days of publication in the Federal Register.  Joint ReleaseProposed Rule.

Joint Release on Additional Guidance for Resolution Plans

On April 15, the FDIC and the Fed issued a joint release which provides additional guidance, clarification and direction for the first group of 11 institutions filing their resolution plans pursuant to the Dodd-Frank Act.   Separate guidance was issued for domestic and foreign-based institutions.  Joint Release.  Domestic Guidance.  Foreign-Based Guidance.

Fed Proposal on Annual Assessments

On April 15, the Fed requested comment on a proposed rule to establish an annual assessment for bank holding companies and savings and loan companies with $50 billion or greater in total consolidated assets, as well as for nonbank financial companies designated for Fed supervision by the FSOC.  Comments on the proposed rule must be submitted by June 15.  Fed Release.  Proposed Rule.

Fed Final Rule on Financial Supervision

On April 3, the Fed approved a final rule establishing the requirements to determine when a nonbank financial company is ‘predominantly engaged in financial activities‘ in order for the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) to determine whether the company should be supervised by the Fed.  The final rule will become effective on May 6.  Fed Release.  Fed Final Rule.