Prudential Regulators Propose Large Institution Liquidity Rule

FDIC Federal Reserve OCC Bank Compliance Basel

On October 24, the Federal Reserve Board issued a proposed rule it developed with the OCC and the FDIC to establish a minimum liquidity coverage ratio (LCR) consistent with the Basel III LCR, with some modifications to reflect characteristics and risks of specific aspects of the U.S. market and U.S. regulatory framework. The proposal would create for the first time a minimum liquidity requirement for certain large or systemically important financial institutions. The covered institutions would be required to hold (i) minimum amounts of high-quality, liquid assets such as central bank reserves and government and corporate debt that can be converted easily and quickly into cash, and (ii) liquidity in an amount equal to or greater than its projected cash outflows minus its projected cash inflows during a short-term stress period. The requirements would apply to all internationally active banking organizations—i.e., those with $250 billion or more in total consolidated assets or $10 billion or more in on-balance sheet foreign exposure—and to systemically important, non-bank financial institutions designated by the FSOC. The proposal also would apply a less stringent, modified LCR to bank holding companies and savings and loan holding companies that are not internationally active, but have more than $50 billion in total assets. The regulators propose various categories of high quality, liquid assets and also specify how a firm's projected net cash outflows over the stress period would be calculated using common, standardized assumptions about the outflows and inflows associated with specific liabilities, assets, and off-balance-sheet obligations. Comments on the proposed rule must be submitted by January 31, 2013.