Statutory and technical amendments have been made to the Federal Reserve Act by the following:

Statutory and technical amendments have been made to the Bank Holding Company Act by the following:

The Board has adopted final amendments to its Regulation A to reflect the Board’s approval of an increase in the rate for primary credit at each Federal Reserve Bank. The secondary credit rate at each Reserve Bank automatically increased by formula as a result of the Board’s primary credit rate action. More... The final rule is effective January 31, 2019 (Regulation A, Docket R-1645), the same day it was published in the Federal Register. The rate changes for primary and secondary credit were applicable on December 20, 2018.

The Board is amending Regulation D (Reserve Requirements of Depository Institutions) to revise the rate of interest paid on balances maintained to satisfy reserve balance requirements (IORR) and the rate of interest paid on excess balances (IOER) maintained at Federal Reserve Banks by or on behalf of eligible institutions. More... The final amendments specify that IORR is 2.40 percent and IOER is 2.40 percent, a 0.20 percentage point increase from their prior levels. The amendments are intended to enhance the role of such rates of interest in moving the federal funds rate into the target range established by the Federal Open Market Committee. The final rule is effective January 31, 2019 (Regulation D, Docket R-1646), the same day it was published in the Federal Register. The IORR and IOER rate changes were applicable on December 20, 2018.

The Board is amending Regulation LL’s “Appendix A—Text of Large Financial Institution Rating System,” originally published in the Federal Register on November 21, 2018, in order to correct two typographical errors relating to the description of the conditionally meets expectation rating. More... The final rule is effective February 15, 2019 (Regulation LL, Docket R-1569), the same day it was published in the Federal Register.

The Board and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) (collectively, “the agencies”) adopted final guidance for the 2019 and subsequent resolution plan submissions by the eight largest, complex U.S. banking organizations. More... Guidance on Section 165(d) Resolution Plan Submissions by Domestic Covered Companies is meant to assist these firms in developing their resolution plans, which are required to be submitted pursuant to the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank Act). The final guidance, which is largely based on prior guidance issued to these covered companies, describes the agencies’ expectations regarding a number of key vulnerabilities in plans for an orderly resolution under the U.S. Bankruptcy Code (i.e., capital; liquidity; governance mechanisms; operational; legal entity rationalization and separability; and derivatives and trading activities). The final guidance also updates certain aspects of prior guidance based on the agencies’ review of these firms’ most recent resolution plan submissions (Regulation QQ, Docket OP-1644). The final guidance was published in the Federal Register on February 4, 2019.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is amending the official commentary that interprets the requirements of the CFPB’s Regulation C (Home Mortgage Disclosure) to reflect the asset-size exemption threshold for banks, savings associations, and credit unions based on the annual percentage change in the average of the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W). More... Based on the 2.6 percent increase in the average of the CPI-W for the 12-month period ending in November 2018, the exemption threshold is adjusted to increase to $46 million from $45 million. Therefore, banks, savings associations, and credit unions with assets of $46 million or less as of December 31, 2018, are exempt from collecting data in 2019. The final rule is effective January 31, 2019 (Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Regulation C), the same day it was published in the Federal Register. This rule was applicable on January 1, 2019, consistent with relevant statutory or regulatory provisions.

The CFPB is amending Regulation V, which implements the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), to add a section establishing a maximum allowable charge for disclosures by a consumer reporting agency to a consumer pursuant to FCRA section 609. More... The CFPB is also amending Regulation V to add an appendix setting forth the statutory requirements for determining the maximum allowable charge; announcing the maximum charge for 2019; and preserving a list of historical maximum allowable charges. Historically, the CFPB has published these FCRA annual adjustments as a notice. The CFPB is now codifying those notices and adding a provision to Regulation V to track the FCRA’s provisions concerning the annual maximum allowable charge. The final rule is effective January 31, 2019 (Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Regulation V), the same day it was published in the Federal Register. This rule was applicable on January 1, 2019, consistent with relevant statutory or regulatory provisions.

The CFPB is amending the official commentary that interprets the requirements of the CFPB’s Regulation Z (Truth in Lending) to reflect a change in the asset-size threshold for certain creditors to qualify for an exemption to the requirement to establish an escrow account for a higher-priced mortgage loan based on the annual percentage change in the average of the CPI-W. More... Based on the 2.6 percent increase in the average of the CPI-W for the 12-month period ending in November 2018, the exemption threshold is adjusted to increase to $2.167 billion from $2.112 billion. Therefore, creditors with assets of less than $2.167 billion (including assets of certain affiliates) as of December 31, 2018, are exempt, if other requirements of Regulation Z also are met, from establishing escrow accounts for higher-priced mortgage loans in 2019. The final rule is effective February 4, 2019 (Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Regulation Z), the same day it was published in the Federal Register. This rule was applicable on January 1, 2019, consistent with relevant statutory or regulatory provisions.

The Board issued a final rule amending its rules of practice and procedure to adjust the amount of each civil money penalty provided by law within its jurisdiction to account for inflation as required by the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015. More... The final rule is effective February 6, 2019 (Procedural and Organizational Rules, Rules of Practice for Hearings, Docket R-1647), the same day it was published in the Federal Register.

The Board, the FDIC, and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) are inviting comment on a proposed rule that would increase the major assets prohibition thresholds for management interlocks in the agencies’ rules implementing the Depository Institution Management Interlocks Act (DIMIA). More... The DIMIA major assets prohibition prohibits a management official of a depository organization with total assets exceeding $2.5 billion (or any affiliate of such an organization) from serving at the same time as a management official of an unaffiliated depository organization with total assets exceeding $1.5 billion (or any affiliate of such an organization). DIMIA provides that the agencies may adjust, by regulation, the major assets prohibition thresholds in order to allow for inflation or market changes. The agencies propose to raise the major assets prohibition thresholds to $10 billion to account for changes in the U.S. banking market since the current thresholds were established in 1996. The agencies also propose three alternative approaches for increasing the thresholds based on market changes or inflation. Increasing the major assets prohibition thresholds would relieve certain depository organizations below the adjusted thresholds from having to ask the agencies for an exemption from the major assets prohibition. The agencies do not expect the proposal to materially increase anticompetitive risk. Comments on this notice of proposed rulemaking must be received by April 1, 2019 (Docket R-1641).

The Board, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the FDIC, the OCC, and the Securities and Exchange Commission are inviting comment on a proposal to amend the regulations implementing the Bank Holding Company Act’s prohibitions and restrictions on proprietary trading and certain interests in, and relationships with, hedge funds and private equity funds in a manner consistent with the statutory amendments made pursuant to certain sections of the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act (EGRRCPA). More... The statutory amendments exclude from these restrictions certain firms that have total consolidated assets equal to $10 billion or less and total trading assets and liabilities equal to 5 percent or less of total consolidated assets and amend the restrictions applicable to the naming of a hedge fund or private equity fund to permit an investment adviser that is a banking entity to share a name with the fund under certain circumstances. Comments on this notice of proposed rulemaking must be received by March 11, 2019 (Docket R-1643).

The Board, the FDIC, and the OCC are inviting comment on a notice of proposed rulemaking that would provide for a simple measure of capital adequacy for certain community banking organizations, consistent with section 201 of the EGRRCPA. More... Under the proposal, most depository institutions and depository institution 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 percent would be eligible to opt into a community bank leverage ratio framework. Such banking organizations that elect to use the community bank leverage ratio and that maintain a community bank leverage ratio of greater than 9 percent would not be subject to other risk-based and leverage capital requirements and would be considered to have met the well capitalized ratio requirements for purposes of section 38 of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act and regulations implementing that section, as applicable, and the generally applicable capital requirements under the agencies’ capital rule. Comments on this notice of proposed rulemaking must be received by April 9, 2019 (Docket R-1638).

The Board is requesting comment on a proposed rule that would amend the Board’s company-run stress test and supervisory stress test rules, consistent with section 401 of the EGRRCPA. More... Specifically, the proposed rule would revise the minimum threshold for state member banks to conduct stress tests from $10 billion to $250 billion, revise the frequency with which state member banks with assets greater than $250 billion would be required to conduct stress tests, and remove the adverse scenario from the list of required scenarios. The proposed rule would also make conforming changes to the Board’s company-run and supervisory stress test requirements for bank holding companies, U.S. intermediate holding companies of foreign banking organizations, and nonbank financial companies supervised by the Board; the Board’s Policy Statement on the Scenario Design Framework for Stress Testing; and the stress testing requirements for certain savings and loan holding companies that were proposed for public comment on October 31, 2018. Comments on this notice of proposed rulemaking must be received by March 21, 2019 (Docket R-1648).