12 CFR Chapter VI, Subchapter A - ADMINISTRATIVE PROVISIONS

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.

The Board of Governors (Board) is publishing a final rule that applies an inflation adjustment to the threshold for total consolidated assets in Regulation I. Federal Reserve Bank (Reserve Bank) stockholders that have total consolidated assets above the threshold receive a different dividend rate on their Reserve Bank stock than stockholders with total consolidated assets at or below the threshold. The Federal Reserve Act requires that the Board annually adjust the total consolidated asset threshold to reflect the change in the Gross Domestic Product Price Index, published by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA). Based on the change in the Gross Domestic Product Price Index as of September 27, 2018, the total consolidated asset threshold will be $10,518,000,000 through December 31, 2019.

The OCC, the Board, and the FDIC (collectively, the agencies) are inviting comment on a proposed rule that would implement section 205 of the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act by: Expanding the eligibility to file the agencies' most streamlined report of condition, the FFIEC 051 Call Report, to include certain insured depository institutions with less than $5 billion in total consolidated assets that meet other criteria; and, establishing reduced reporting on the FFIEC 051 Call Report for the first and third reports of condition for a year. The OCC and Board also are proposing similar reduced reporting for certain uninsured institutions that they supervise with less than $5 billion in total consolidated assets that otherwise meet the same criteria. This Federal Register notice also includes a Paperwork Reduction Act notice to reduce the amount of data required to be reported on the FFIEC 051 Call Report for the first and third calendar quarters, and other related changes.

The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (the Board) is proposing to revise and expand its equal employment opportunity regulation to adopt recent changes the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) had made to its rules. The Board's proposed rule is intended to provide Board employees, applicants for employment, and others with the same substantive and procedural rights generally guaranteed to others under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Equal Pay Act, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, and the Rehabilitation Act and thus to comply with the spirit of those laws. The Board's proposed rule also clarifies provisions related to Board employees' right to bring a claim before the Merit System Protection Board and the Federal Labor Relations Board.

The NCUA Board (Board) is proposing to update, clarify, and simplify the federal credit union bylaws (FCU Bylaws). The Board also is proposing changes that will update and conform the FCU Bylaws to legal opinions issued by the NCUA's Office of General Counsel and/or provide greater flexibility to FCUs. Finally, the Board is proposing other changes that are designed to remove outdated or obsolete provisions.

The NCUA Board (Board) is amending the NCUA's previously revised regulations regarding prompt corrective action (PCA). The final rule delays the effective date of the NCUA's October 29, 2015 final rule regarding risk-based capital (2015 Final Rule) for one year, moving the effective date from January 1, 2019 to January 1, 2020. During the extended delay period, the NCUA's current PCA requirements will remain in effect. The final rule also amends the definition of a “complex” credit union adopted in the 2015 Final Rule for risk-based capital purposes by increasing the threshold level for coverage from $100 million to $500 million. These changes provide covered credit unions and the NCUA with additional time to prepare for the rule's implementation, and exempt an additional 1,026 credit unions from the risk-based capital requirements of the 2015 Final Rule without subjecting the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund (NCUSIF) to undue risk.

The Board is amending Regulation D, Reserve Requirements of Depository Institutions, to reflect the annual indexing of the reserve requirement exemption amount and the low reserve tranche for 2019. The Regulation D amendments set the amount of total reservable liabilities of each depository institution that is subject to a zero percent reserve requirement in 2019 at $16.3 million (up from 16.0 million in 2018). This amount is known as the reserve requirement exemption amount. The Regulation D amendments also set the amount of net transaction accounts at each depository institution (over the reserve requirement exemption amount) that is subject to a three percent reserve requirement in 2019 at $124.2 million (up from $122.3 million in 2018). This amount is known as the low reserve tranche. The adjustments to both of these amounts are derived using statutory formulas specified in the Federal Reserve Act. The Board is also announcing changes in two other amounts, the nonexempt deposit cutoff level and the reduced reporting limit, that are used to determine the frequency at which depository institutions must submit deposit reports.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) proposes to rescind and remove its regulations relating to the disclosure of financial and other information by FDIC-insured state nonmember banks. Upon the removal of the regulations, all insured state nonmember banks and insured state-licensed branches of foreign banks (collectively, “banks”) would no longer be subject to the annual disclosure statement requirement found in those regulations. The financial and other information that has been subject to disclosure by individual banks pursuant to these regulations is publicly available through the FDIC's website.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) is amending its regulation on the Responsibilities of Boards of Directors, Corporate Practices, and Corporate Governance for its regulated entities. The final rule amends the existing regulation pertaining to Federal Home Loan Bank strategic business plans so that it applies as well to the Enterprises, and makes a number of adjustments and conforming changes to the existing regulation. As amended, the regulation requires that the board of directors of each regulated entity have in effect at all times a strategic business plan that describes its strategy for achieving its mission and public purposes. It extends to the Enterprise boards the existing provision requiring the board of each Federal Home Loan Bank to review the strategic business plan at least annually, re-adopt it at least once every three years, and establish reporting requirements for and monitor implementation of the strategic business plan. The final rule adds a new provision regarding current and emerging risks, repeals two outdated provisions of the existing regulation, and makes a conforming change to the Office of Finance Board of Directors regulation.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) is issuing a final rule amending its community support regulation to require that FHFA establish relevant dates for FHFA's biennial community support review by written notice to the Federal Home Loan Banks (Banks). The amendments do not affect the substantive requirements of the regulation and do not change the criteria for determining member compliance with the community support standards and eligibility for access to long-term Bank advances.

The Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection (Bureau) is proposing to amend its rule adjusting for inflation the maximum amount of each civil penalty within the Bureau's jurisdiction pursuant to the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 1990, as amended by the Debt Collection Improvement Act of 1996 and further amended by the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015 (Inflation Adjustment Act). The Bureau is proposing an amendment to specify that the adjusted civil monetary penalties only apply to assessments whose associated violations occurred on, or after, November 2, 2015 (the date the 2015 Inflation Adjustment Act amendments were signed into law). The Bureau requests public comment on all aspects of this proposal.

The Board, OCC, FDIC, FCA, and FHFA (each an Agency and, collectively, the Agencies) are adopting amendments to their rules establishing minimum margin requirements for registered swap dealers, major swap participants, security-based swap dealers, and major security-based swap participants (Swap Margin Rule). These amendments conform the Swap Margin Rule to rules recently adopted by the Board, the OCC, and the FDIC that impose restrictions on certain qualified financial contracts, including certain non-cleared swaps subject to the Swap Margin Rule (the QFC Rules). Specifically, the final amendments to the Swap Margin Rule conform the definition of “Eligible Master Netting Agreement” to the definition of “Qualifying Master Netting Agreement” in the QFC Rules. The amendment to the Swap Margin Rule ensures that netting agreements of firms subject to the Swap Margin Rule are not excluded from the definition of “Eligible Master Netting Agreement” based solely on their compliance with the QFC Rules. The amendment also ensures that margin amounts required for non-cleared swaps covered by agreements that otherwise constitute Eligible Master Netting Agreements can continue to be calculated on a net portfolio basis, notwithstanding changes to those agreements that will be made in some instances by firms revising their netting agreements to achieve compliance with the QFC Rules. In addition, for any non-cleared swaps that were “entered into” before the compliance dates of the Swap Margin Rules—and which are accordingly grandfathered from application of the rule's margin requirements—the amendments state that any changes to netting agreements that are required to conform to the QFC Rules will not render grandfathered swaps covered by that netting agreement as “new” swaps subject to the Swap Margin Rule.

The NCUA Board (Board) is inviting comment on a proposed rule to amend the agency's regulation requiring real estate appraisals for certain transactions. The proposed rule would accomplish four objectives. First, the proposed rule would increase the threshold below which appraisals would not be required for non-residential real estate transactions from $250,000 to $1,000,000. Second, the proposed rule would restructure the NCUA's appraisal regulation to clarify its requirements for the reader. Third, the proposed rule would exempt from the NCUA's appraisal regulation certain federally related transactions involving real estate where the property is located in a rural area, valued below $400,000, and no state certified or licensed appraiser is available. Finally, the proposed rule would also make certain conforming amendments to the definitions section.

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 proposing to amend the regulatory capital rule to revise the definition of “high volatility commercial real estate (HVCRE) exposure” to conform to the statutory definition of “high volatility commercial real estate acquisition, development, orconstruction (HVCRE ADC) loan,” in accordance with section 214 of the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act (EGRRCPA). Additionally, to facilitate the consistent application of the revised HVCRE exposure definition, the agencies propose to interpret certain terms in the revised HVCRE exposure definition generally consistent with their usage in other relevant regulations or the instructions to the Consolidated Reports of Condition and Income (Call Report), where applicable, and request comment on whether any other terms in the revised definition would also require interpretation.