The Board of Governors of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) met on March 3 and 4, when, among other actions, it approved the publication of proposed amendments to FINRA Rule 3240 (Borrowing From or Lending to Customers) for comment.
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Banking Agencies Issue Proposed Rule Addressing Role of Supervisory Guidance
On October 20, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), and the National Credit Union Administration (each, a Banking Agency, and collectively, the Banking Agencies) published a proposed rule (the Proposed Rule) that would codify the Interagency Statement Clarifying the Role of Supervisory Guidance issued by the Banking Agencies on September 11, 2018 (the 2018 Statement). The 2018 Statement provided that regulatory guidance did not have the force and effect of law and did not create binding obligations on the public.
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Prudential Regulators Revise Initial Margin Rules for Uncleared Swaps
On June 25, the five prudential regulators responsible for the margin rules for bank swap dealers (the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the Farm Credit Administration and the Federal Housing Finance Agency) adopted one final rule and one interim final rule that modify their original framework for margining uncleared swaps.
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CFTC Approves Two Final Rules and Two Proposed Rules at June 25 Open Meeting
On June 25, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission held an open meeting where it approved two final rules, advanced two proposed rules and withdrew a previously proposed rule and supplemental proposal.
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Volcker Rule Regulators Make Changes to Covered Fund Rules
On June 25, the five regulators responsible for Section 13 of the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956 (Volcker Rule) approved a set of amendments that modify and clarify the covered fund provisions of the regulations implementing the Volcker Rule. (The five regulators are the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and the Securities and Exchange Commission.) The final amendments are generally the same as those proposed in January of this year.
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Federal Reserve Adopts Revamped Standards for Determinations of Bank Control
On January 30, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (the Board) adopted a final rule to simplify and increase the transparency of determinations of when a company has the ability to exercise a controlling influence over another company for purposes of the Bank Holding Company Act or the Home Owners’ Loan Act. The rule takes the form of amendments to Regulation Y.
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Volcker Rule Regulators Propose Changes to Covered Fund Rules
On January 30, the five regulators responsible for Section 13 of the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956 (the “Volcker Rule”) each approved a set of amendments intended to modify and clarify the covered fund provisions of the regulations implementing the Volcker Rule. (The five regulators are the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission.)
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US Banking Agencies Issue Statement on Alternative Date in Credit Underwriting
On December 3, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and the National Credit Union Administration (the Banking Agencies) released interagency guidance related to the use of alternative data for purposes of underwriting credit (the Guidance).
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FDIC Proposes Amendments to Prudential Regulator Swap Margin Rules
On September 17, the directors of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) approved a joint notice of proposed rulemaking (NPR) with respect to the prudential regulator margin rules for non-cleared swaps. The joint form of the NPR indicates that the other prudential swap regulators (the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Farm Credit Administration and the Federal Housing Finance Agency) will all be approving the same NPR in the near future.
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CFTC Chair Proposes Relief for Phase 5 Initial Margin Implementation
On April 29, Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chairman Chris Giancarlo sent a letter to Randy Quarles, the Vice Chair for Supervision of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, in which he proposed that the US regulators responsible for the administering the margin rules for uncleared swaps should collaborate in providing some relief to non-dealer swap market participants who may become subject to initial margin requirements in 2020. The specific relief would be the issuance of the same guidance issued by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) and the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) in March (for more information, see the March 8, 2019 edition of Corporate & Financial Weekly Digest), which stated that in-scope parties do not have to put in place compliant documentation and custodial relationships if there is no expectation that the exposure associated with their swaps will actually exceed the regulatory threshold for posting initial margin ($50 million for the United States).
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