InfoBytes Blog
Federal Reserve releases CCAR scenarios; “less-complex” firms exempt from 2019 stress tests
On February 5, the Federal Reserve Board (Fed) released the scenarios banks and supervisors will use to conduct the 2019 Comprehensive Capital Analysis and Review (CCAR) and Dodd-Frank Act stress tests exercises for large bank holding companies and large U.S. operations of foreign firms. Each of the three scenarios—baseline, adverse, and severely adverse—include 28 variables that cover domestic and international economic activity. The Fed noted that “less-complex” firms with total consolidated assets between $100 billion and $250 billion have been moved to an extended stress test cycle for the 2019 cycle. (See related InfoBytes coverage here.) Capital plan and stress testing submissions are due by April 5.
In addition, the Fed finalized enhanced disclosures of the stress testing models used in annual CCARs beginning in 2019, which will be updated each year. The Fed also amended its policy regarding the economic scenario design framework for stress testing, and adopted a policy statement on prior disclosures, which outlines the Fed’s approach to model development, implementation, and validation. The changes are designed to increase the transparency of the stress testing exercises and provide significantly more information for firms.
In related news, also on February 5, the OCC released its own stress testing scenarios for OCC-supervised institutions.