Agencies to allow supplementary leverage ratio flexibility to expire

Agency Rule-Making & Guidance Federal Reserve FDIC OCC Covid-19 Bank Regulatory

On March 19, the OCC, FDIC, and Federal Reserve Board announced that the temporary changes to the supplementary leverage ratio (SLR) for depository institutions will expire as scheduled on March 31. As previously covered by InfoBytes, the federal banking agencies issued an interim final rule last May, which temporarily permitted depository institutions to exclude U.S. Treasury securities and deposits at Federal Reserve Banks from the calculation of the SLR, enabling depository institutions to expand their balance sheets to provide additional credit to households and businesses in light of the Covid-19 pandemic. In connection with announcing its decision to allow the temporary SLR changes to expire, the Fed noted that due to “recent growth in the supply of central bank reserves and the issuance of Treasury securities, the Board may need to address the current design and calibration of the SLR over time to prevent strains from developing that could both constrain economic growth and undermine financial stability.” The Fed noted it intends to “shortly seek comments on measures to adjust the SLR” and “will take appropriate actions to assure that any changes to the SLR do not erode the overall strength of bank capital requirements.”