Guidance on how banks should structure their stress testing activities to fit their risk management needs is slated for renewal without addressing this year’s regulatory relief law due to timing, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) says in a Federal Register filing slated for publication Tuesday.
The guidance will be revisited, the notice says, as part of the OCC’s implementation of the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act (EGRRCPA). EGRRCPA revised the threshold for national banks and federal savings associations subject to company-run stress test requirements from $10 billion to $250 billion in total consolidated assets, reduce the number of stress test scenarios, and revise the annual stress test requirement to a periodic requirement. “There was insufficient time to address changes needed to the guidance prior to completing this renewal,” the OCC said.
“The purpose of the guidance is to outline broad principles for a satisfactory stress testing framework and describe the manner in which stress testing should be used,” according to the notice. “While the guidance is not intended to provide detailed instructions for conducting stress testing for any particular risk or business area, it does describe several types of stress testing activities and how they may be most appropriately used by banking organizations.”
This proposed renewal was originally published in April, and the OCC received no comments. It’s now headed to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review. The OCC will take comments again for 30 days, it said.