The Board has adopted final amendments to its Regulation A to reflect the Board’s approval of a decrease in the rate for primary credit at each Federal Reserve Bank. More... The secondary credit rate at each Reserve Bank automatically decreased by formula as a result of the Board’s primary credit rate action. The final rule is effective November 7, 2019 (Regulation A, Docket R-1685), the same day it was published in the Federal Register. The rate changes for primary and secondary credit were applicable on October 31, 2019.

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 1.55 percent and IOER is 1.55 percent, a 0.25 percentage point decrease 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 November 7, 2019 (Regulation D, Docket R-1684), the same day it was published in the Federal Register. The IORR and IOER rate changes were applicable on October 31, 2019.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued a final rule, pursuant to section 311 of the USA PATRIOT Act, to prohibit the opening or maintaining of correspondent accounts in the United States for, or on behalf of, Iranian financial institutions, and the use of foreign financial institutions’ correspondent accounts at covered U.S. financial institutions to process transactions involving Iranian financial institutions. More... The final rule is effective November 14, 2019 (Department of the Treasury, Financial Crimes Enforcement Network at 3-1700) and was published in the Federal Register on November 4, 2019.

The Board, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the National Credit Union Administration, and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) (collectively, “the agencies”) are inviting public comment on a proposed interagency policy statement on allowances for credit losses (ACLs). More... The agencies are issuing this proposed interagency policy statement in response to changes to U.S. generally accepted accounting principles as promulgated by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) in Accounting Standards Update 2016-13, Financial Instruments—Credit Losses (Topic 326): Measurement of Credit Losses on Financial Instruments and subsequent amendments issued since June 2016. These updates are codified in Accounting Standards Codification (ASC) Topic 326, Financial Instruments—Credit Losses (FASB ASC Topic 326).

This proposed interagency policy statement describes the measurement of expected credit losses under the current expected credit losses methodology and the accounting for impairment on available-for-sale debt securities in accordance with FASB ASC Topic 326; supervisory expectations for designing, documenting, and validating expected credit loss estimation processes, including the internal controls over these processes; maintaining appropriate ACLs; the responsibilities of boards of directors and management; and examiner reviews of ACLs. More... Comments on this notice of proposed rulemaking must be received by December 16, 2019 (Docket OP-1680).

The Board is inviting comment on a proposal to establish risk-based capital requirements for depository institution holding companies that are significantly engaged in insurance activities. More... The Board is proposing a risk-based capital framework, termed the Building Block Approach, that adjusts and aggregates existing legal entity capital requirements to determine an enterprise-wide capital requirement, together with a risk-based capital requirement excluding insurance activities, in compliance with section 171 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank Act). The Board is additionally proposing to apply a buffer to limit an insurance depository institution holding company’s capital distributions and discretionary bonus payments if it does not hold sufficient capital relative to enterprise-wide risk, including risk from insurance activities. The proposal would also revise reporting requirements for depository institution holding companies significantly engaged in insurance activities. Comments on this notice of proposed rulemaking must be received by December 23, 2019 (Docket R-1673).

The Board, the Farm Credit Administration, the FDIC, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, and the OCC request comment on a proposed rule that would amend the agencies’ regulations that require swap dealers and security-based swap dealers under the agencies’ respective jurisdictions to exchange margin with their counterparties for swaps that are not centrally cleared (swap margin rule). More... The swap margin rule as adopted in 2015 takes effect under a phased compliance schedule spanning from 2016 through 2020, and the dealers covered by the rule continue to hold swaps in their portfolios that were entered into before the effective dates of the rule. Such swaps are grandfathered from the swap margin rule’s requirements until they expire according to their terms. The proposed rule would permit swaps entered into prior to an applicable compliance date (legacy swaps) to retain their legacy status in the event that they are amended to replace an interbank offered rate or other discontinued rate, repeal the inter-affiliate initial margin provisions, introduce an additional compliance date for initial margin requirements, clarify the point in time at which trading documentation must be in place, permit legacy swaps to retain their legacy status in the event that they are amended due to technical amendments, notional reductions, or portfolio compression exercises, and make technical changes to relocate the provision addressing amendments to legacy swaps that are made to comply with the qualified financial contract rules, as defined in the supplementary information section. Comments on this notice of proposed rulemaking must be received by December 9, 2019 (Docket R-1682).

The Board is inviting comment on a proposal to amend the Board’s assessment rule (Regulation TT), pursuant to the Dodd-Frank Act, to address amendments made by the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act (EGRRCPA). More... The proposed amendments to Regulation TT raise the minimum threshold for being considered an assessed company from $50 billion to $100 billion in total consolidated assets for bank holding companies and savings and loan holding companies and adjust the amount charged to assessed companies with total consolidated assets between $100 billion and $250 billion to reflect changes in supervisory and regulatory responsibilities resulting from EGRRCPA. Comments on this notice of proposed rulemaking must be received by January 9, 2020 (Docket R-1683).