InfoBytes Blog
FDIC Chairman discusses challenges associated with living wills
On February 16, FDIC Chairman, Martin J. Gruenberg, spoke at an event hosted by The Wharton School in Philadelphia about the challenges associated with managing the orderly failure of a systemically important financial institution. In prepared remarks, Gruenberg discussed his views on how the FDIC’s Title II Orderly Liquidation Authority granted under Dodd-Frank—which allows the regulator “to manage the orderly failure of any financial institution whose failure in bankruptcy could pose a risk to the financial system”—is complementary to the Title I living will process. Title I requires firms to “make significant changes in their organizational structure and operations to facilitate orderly failure in bankruptcy.” Gruenberg outlined the evolution of the living will process from its inception under Dodd-Frank in 2010, to the efforts undertaken by the eight largest, most complex banks when assembling their mandated resolution plans, which are reviewed by the FDIC and the Federal Reserve (the agencies). While the banks have demonstrated “substantial” progress on their resolution plans, Gruenberg commented “there is still a great deal of work to do.” Specifically, Gruenberg noted that in 2016, the agencies determined that (i) five of the eight submitted plans “would not facilitate an orderly resolution of the firm under the Bankruptcy Code,” and (ii) all eight plans contained “shortcomings” that raised questions about the plans’ feasibility. All systematically important financial institutions were directed to address their shortcomings in their next submissions. During his remarks, Gruenberg cited examples of progress made in 2017, and highlighted the “structural and operational improvements” firms have made to improve resolvability. However, he closed his remarks by noting these resolutions have not yet been tested and emphasized the need to continue to address challenges as they arise.