12 CFR Part 3 - CAPITAL ADEQUACY STANDARDS

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) are adopting a final rule to clarify, correct, and update aspects of the regulatory capital framework applicable to certain large, internationally active banking organizations. The revisions correct technical and typographical errors and clarify certain requirements of the advanced approaches risk-based capital rule based on observations made by the agencies during the parallel run review process of advanced approaches banking organizations. The corrections also enhance consistency of the agencies' advanced approaches risk-based capital rule with relevant international standards. The agencies proposed these changes in a notice of proposed rulemaking that was published in the Federal Register on December 18, 2014. The agencies are now adopting the proposed rule as final with some additional clarifications and amendments.

The OCC and Board (collectively, the agencies) invite comment on an interim final rule that amends the definition of “qualifying master netting agreement” under the regulatory capital rules, and the liquidity coverage ratio rule, as well as under the lending limits rule applicable to national banks and Federal savings associations. The agencies also are proposing to amend the definitions of “collateral agreement,” “eligible margin loan,” and “repo-style transaction” under the regulatory capital rules. The amendments are designed to ensure that the regulatory capital, liquidity, and lending limits treatment of certain financial contracts is not affected by implementation of special resolution regimes in foreign jurisdictions or by the International Swaps and Derivative Association Resolution Stay Protocol.

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 an NPR that would clarify, correct, and update aspects of the agencies' regulatory capital rule applicable to banking organizations that are subject to the advanced approaches risk-based capital rule (advanced approaches banking organizations). The proposed revisions are largely driven by observations made by the agencies during the parallel-run review process of advanced approaches banking organizations. They are also intended to enhance consistency of the U.S. regulations with international standards for use of the advanced approaches rule.

In May 2014, 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) issued a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPR or proposed rule) to revise the definition of the denominator of the supplementary leverage ratio (total leverage exposure) that the agencies adopted in July 2013 as part of comprehensive revisions to the agencies' regulatory capital rules (2013 revised capital rule). The agencies are adopting the proposed rule as final (final rule) with certain revisions and clarifications based on comments received on the proposed rule. The final rule revises total leverage exposure as defined in the 2013 revised capital rule to include the effective notional principal amount of credit derivatives and other similar instruments through which a banking organization provides credit protection (sold credit protection); modifies the calculation of total leverage exposure for derivative and repo-style transactions; and revises the credit conversion factors applied to certain off-balance sheet exposures. The final rule also changes the frequency with which certain components of the supplementary leverage ratio are calculated and establishes the public disclosure requirements of certain items associated with the supplementary leverage ratio. The final rule applies to all banks, savings associations, bank holding companies, and savings and loan holding companies (banking organizations) that are subject to the agencies' advanced approaches risk-based capital rules, as defined in the 2013 revised capital rule (advanced approaches banking organizations), including advanced approaches banking organizations that are subject to the enhanced supplementary leverage ratio standards that the agencies finalized in May 2014 (eSLR standards). Consistent with the 2013 revised capital rule, advanced approaches banking organizations will be required to disclose their supplementary leverage ratios beginning January 1, 2015, and will be required to comply with a minimum supplementary leverage ratio capital requirement of 3 percent and, as applicable, the eSLR standards beginning January 1, 2018.

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 adopting a final rule that revises the definition of eligible guarantee in the agencies' advanced approaches risk-based capital rule, adopted in the agencies' July 2013 regulatory capital rule (2013 capital rule). The final rule removes the requirement that an eligible guarantee be made by an eligible guarantor for purposes of calculating the risk-weighted assets of an exposure (other than a securitization exposure) under the advanced approaches risk-based capital rule as incorporated into the 2013 capital rule (advanced approaches). The change to the definition of eligible guarantee applies to all banks, savings associations, bank holding companies, and savings and loan holding companies that are subject to the advanced approaches.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Board), are adopting a final rule that revises their risk-based and leverage capital requirements for banking organizations. The final rule consolidates three separate notices of proposed rulemaking that the OCC, Board, and FDIC published in the Federal Register on August 30, 2012, with selected changes. The final rule implements a revised definition of regulatory capital, a new common equity tier 1 minimum capital requirement, a higher minimum tier 1 capital requirement, and, for banking organizations subject to the advanced approaches risk-based capital rules, a supplementary leverage ratio that incorporates a broader set of exposures in the denominator. The final rule incorporates these new requirements into the agencies' prompt corrective action (PCA) framework. In addition, the final rule establishes limits on a banking organization's capital distributions and certain discretionary bonus payments if the banking organization does not hold a specified amount of common equity tier 1 capital in addition to the amount necessary to meet its minimum risk-based capital requirements. Further, the final rule amends the methodologies for determining risk-weighted assets for all banking organizations, and introduces disclosure requirements that would apply to top-tier banking organizations domiciled in the United States with $50 billion or more in total assets. The final rule also adopts changes to the agencies' regulatory capital requirements that meet the requirements of section 171 and section 939A of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. The final rule also codifies the agencies' regulatory capital rules, which have previously resided in various appendices to their respective regulations, into a harmonized integrated regulatory framework. In addition, the OCC is amending the market risk capital rule (market risk rule) to apply to Federal savings associations, and the Board is amending the advanced approaches and market risk rules to apply to top-tier savings and loan holding companies domiciled in the United States, except for certain savings and loan holding companies that are substantially engaged in insurance underwriting or commercial activities, as described in this preamble.