A spate of proposed and final rules, and a teleconference on community bank capital requirements – both against the background of the Federal Reserve’s rate-setting committee’s meeting – highlight the regulatory calendar for the week ahead.
Tuesday, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) begins its two-day meeting to consider interest rates. A press conference is scheduled for Wednesday at 2 p.m. ET to follow up on the committee’s deliberations or any other topics related to Fed actions.
Also on Tuesday (at 10 a.m.), the board of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) meets to consider five notices of proposed rulemaking, four final rules, and one advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPR). The agency’s 2019 operating budget and an update on projected losses for the insurance fund that covers deposits in the nation’s banks will also be discussed.
Among the list of final and proposed rules to be considered (likely without much discussion; unless otherwise noted, all 10 items will be addressed as part of the board’s summary agenda (that is, those matters that can be resolved with a single vote unless a member of the agency requests it be moved to the discussion agenda) are:
- Final Rule/Regulatory Capital Rule: Implementation and transition of the current expected credit losses (CECL) methodology for allowances and related adjustments to the regulatory capital rule and conforming amendments to other regulations.
- Final Rule: Expanded exam cycle for certain small insured depository institutions and U.S. branches and agencies of foreign banks.
- Notice of Proposed Rulemaking: Revisions to the Deposit Insurance Assessment System.
- Advanced notice of proposed rulemaking relating to brokered deposits.
Wednesday at 2 p.m., the three federal banking agencies host a 90-minute teleconference with bankers to discuss the optional community bank leverage ratio (CBLR) framework proposed for qualifying institutions under $10 billion in assets. The FDIC, Federal Reserve and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) will cover topics such as the definition of a qualifying community banking organization, the definition of CBLR tangible equity, and compliance with the proposed framework.
Under the joint proposal, most depository institutions and holding companies that have less than $10 billion in total consolidated assets, that meet risk-based qualifying criteria, and that have a community bank leverage ratio (as defined in the proposal) of greater than 9% would be eligible to opt into a community bank leverage ratio framework.
Proposed CBLR framework (Draft Federal Register notice)