On January 29, 2016, the US Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System extended the comment period to March 21, 2016, for the proposed policy statement describing the Federal Reserve Board's framework in setting the Countercyclical Capital Buffer. The original deadline for submission of comments was February 19, 2016. The Federal Reserve Board first announced it was soliciting public comment on the proposed policy statement on December 21, 2015. The CCyB is a macro-prudential tool that raises capital requirements on internationally active banking institutions when the risk of above-normal losses in the future is elevated. The proposed policy statement describes various financial-system vulnerabilities as well as issues for Federal Reserve Board consideration in setting the buffer.

The proposed policy statement is available at: http://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/press/bcreg/bcreg20151221b1.pdf and the appendix to the statement is available at: http://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/press/bcreg/bcreg20151221b2.pdf.

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