Federal banking agencies seek comments on proposal to revise regulatory capital rules

Agency Rule-Making & Guidance Federal Reserve FDIC OCC GAAP

On May 14, the Federal Reserve Board, FDIC, and OCC published a joint notice and request for comment on a proposal to revise regulatory capital rules to, among other things, identify which credit loss allowances are “eligible for inclusion in regulatory capital” under changes made to U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (U.S. GAAP), described within Accounting Standards Update No. 2016-13 (ASU 2016-13). The proposed rulemaking would provide (i) banking organizations subject to the agencies’ regulatory capital rules with “the option to phase in the day-one adverse effects on regulatory capital that may result from the adoption of the new accounting standard;” (ii) amendments to certain regulatory disclosure requirements to reflect applicable changes to U.S. GAAP covered under ASU 2016-13; (iii) amendments to stress testing regulations, which would grant covered banking organizations that have adopted ASU 2016-13 an extension until the 2020 stress test cycle to “include the effect of ASU 2016-13 on their provisioning for purposes of stress testing;” and (iv) conforming amendments to other regulations referencing credit loss allowances. Comments must be submitted by July 13.