On November 25, 2015, the US Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System approved a final rule to modify its capital plan and stress testing rules, which would take effect for the 2016 capital plan and stress testing cycle. Largely similar to the proposed rule, the final rule modifies the timing for certain regulatory requirements that have not yet been incorporated into the capital plan and stress testing framework. Firms subject to the supplementary leverage ratio would begin to incorporate it into their 2017 capital plan and stress testing cycle. All firms would continue to use the generally applicable risk-based capital framework for stress-testing exercises. However, firms with at least $250 billion in total consolidated assets or $10 billion in on-balance sheet foreign exposures would continue to be subject to the advanced approaches risk-based capital framework for their regulatory capital ratios. The common equity tier 1 capital requirement in the Federal Reserve Board's revised regulatory capital rules will be fully phased in over the nine-quarter planning horizon of the 2016 capital plan and stress testing cycles. The final rule eliminates the requirement for firms to calculate a tier 1 common ratio.
The Federal Reserve Board press release and the final rule are available at:
http://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/press/bcreg/20151125a.htm and
http://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/press/bcreg/bcreg20151125a1.pdf.
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