[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 126 (Tuesday, July 1, 2014)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 37420-37445]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-14357]



[[Page 37419]]

Vol. 79

Tuesday,

No. 126

July 1, 2014

Part III





 Federal Reserve System





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12 CFR Parts 225 and 252





 Amendments to the Capital Plan and Stress Test Rules; Proposed Rule

  Federal Register / Vol. 79 , No. 126 / Tuesday, July 1, 2014 / 
Proposed Rules  

[[Page 37420]]


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FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM

12 CFR Parts 225 and 252

[Regulations Y and YY; Docket No. 1492]
RIN 7100-AE 20


Amendments to the Capital Plan and Stress Test Rules

AGENCY: Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Board).

ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking with request for comment.

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SUMMARY: The Board invites comment on a notice of proposed rulemaking 
that would amend the capital plan and stress test rules to modify, 
following a transition period, the start date of the capital plan and 
stress test cycles from October 1 of a calendar year to January 1 of 
the following calendar year. The proposed rule would make other changes 
to the rules, including amending the capital plan rule to limit a bank 
holding company's ability to make capital distributions to the extent 
that the bank holding company's actual capital issuances are less than 
the amount indicated in its capital plan under baseline conditions, 
measured on a quarterly basis. The proposed rule would clarify 
application of the capital plan rule to a bank holding company that is 
a subsidiary of a U.S. intermediate holding company of a foreign 
banking organization and the characteristics of a stressed scenario to 
be included in company run stress tests. The proposed rule also would 
revise the Board's Policy Statement on the Scenario Design Framework 
for Stress Testing and the Board's Regulation YY to reflect the 
revisions to the start date of the stress test cycle.

DATES: Comments must be received on or before August 11, 2014.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by Docket No. 1492; RIN 
7100-AE 20, by any of the following methods:
    Agency Web site: http://www.federalreserve.gov. Follow the 
instructions for submitting comments at http://www.federalreserve.gov/apps/foia/proposedregs.aspx.
    Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the 
instructions for submitting comments.
    Email: [email protected]. Include docket number in 
the subject line of the message.
    Facsimile: (202) 452-3819 or (202) 452-3102.
    Mail: Robert deV. Frierson, Secretary, Board of Governors of the 
Federal Reserve System, 20th Street and Constitution Avenue NW., 
Washington, DC 20551.
    All public comments are available from the Board's Web site at 
http://www.federalreserve.gov/apps/foia/proposedregs.aspx as submitted, 
unless modified for technical reasons. Accordingly, your comments will 
not be edited to remove any identifying or contact information. Public 
comments may also be viewed electronically or in paper form in Room MP-
500 of the Board's Martin Building (20th and C Streets NW.) between 
9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. on weekdays.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Lisa Ryu, Deputy Associate Director, 
(202) 263-4833, Constance Horsley, Assistant Director, (202) 452-5239, 
Mona Touma Elliot, Senior Supervisory Financial Analyst, (202) 912-
4688, Ann McKeehan, Senior Supervisory Financial Analyst, (202) 973-
6903, Holly Kirkpatrick, Senior Financial Analyst, (202) 452-2796, or 
Joseph Cox, Financial Analyst, (202) 452-3216, Division of Banking 
Supervision and Regulation; Laurie Schaffer, Associate General Counsel, 
(202) 452-2272, Ben McDonough, Senior Counsel, (202) 452-2036, or 
Christine Graham, Counsel, (202) 452-3005, Legal Division, Board of 
Governors of the Federal Reserve System, 20th Street and Constitution 
Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20551. Users of Telecommunication Device for 
Deaf (TDD) only, call (202) 263-4869.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Background

    The Board's capital planning and stress testing framework for bank 
holding companies with total consolidated assets of $50 billion or more 
(large bank holding companies) is based on the Board's capital plan 
rule (section 225.8 of Regulation Y) and stress test rules (subparts B, 
E, and F of Regulation YY). The Board is seeking comment on a proposed 
rule to clarify aspects of the rules and, based in part on industry 
feedback, adjust the timeframe for the annual submissions of capital 
plans and for the conduct of company-run and supervisory stress tests.
    Pursuant to the Board's capital plan rule and related supervisory 
process, the Comprehensive Capital Analysis and Review (CCAR), the 
Federal Reserve assesses the internal capital planning process of each 
large bank holding company and its ability to maintain sufficient 
capital to continue its operations under expected and stressful 
conditions.\1\ Under the capital plan rule, a large bank holding 
company is required to submit an annual capital plan to the Federal 
Reserve that includes a detailed description of the following: The 
company's internal processes for assessing its capital adequacy; the 
policies governing capital actions such as common stock issuances, 
dividends and share repurchases; and all planned capital actions over a 
nine-quarter planning horizon (planning horizon). In addition, the bank 
holding company's capital plan must contain estimates of its regulatory 
capital ratios and its tier 1 common ratio under expected conditions 
and under a range of stressed scenarios over the planning horizon.\2\ A 
capital plan also must include a discussion of how a large bank holding 
company will maintain regulatory capital ratios above the regulatory 
minimums and above a tier 1 common ratio of 5 percent under expected 
conditions and stressed scenarios.\3\
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    \1\ 12 CFR 225.8.
    \2\ See generally 12 CFR 225.8.
    \3\ Id. at Sec.  225.8(d)(2)(i)(B).
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    The capital plan rule is designed to work in conjunction with the 
stress test rules adopted by the Board to implement the stress testing 
requirements of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer 
Protection Act (stress test rules).\4\ The stress test rules establish 
a framework for the Board to conduct supervisory stress tests of large 
bank holding companies and require these bank holding companies to 
conduct annual and mid-cycle company-run stress tests.\5\ In addition, 
the stress test rules require state member banks and savings and loan 
holding companies with total consolidated assets of more than $10 
billion and bank holding companies with total consolidated assets of 
more than $10 billion but less than $50 billion to conduct annual 
company-run stress tests.\6\
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    \4\ See 12 USC 5365(i)(1) and 12 CFR part 252.
    \5\ The changes in this proposed rule would apply to nonbank 
financial companies supervised by the Board once they become subject 
to stress test requirements and to U.S. intermediate holding 
companies of foreign banking organizations in accordance with the 
transition provisions of the final rule incorporating enhanced 
prudential standards for U.S. bank holding companies and foreign 
banking organizations with total consolidated assets of $50 billion 
or more. (79 FR 17240 (March 27, 2014)) For simplicity, this 
preamble discussion of proposed amendments generally refers only to 
bank holding companies.
    \6\ 77 FR 62378 (October 12, 2012) (codified at 12 CFR part 252, 
subparts E and F).
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    In February 2014, the Board issued a final rule implementing 
enhanced prudential standards for U.S. bank holding companies and 
foreign banking organizations with total consolidated assets of $50 
billion or more (enhanced prudential standards rule). For U.S.

[[Page 37421]]

bank holding companies, the enhanced prudential standards rule 
incorporates the capital plan rule as an enhanced risk-based capital 
and leverage requirement and establishes enhanced liquidity and risk-
management requirements. For foreign banking organizations, the 
enhanced prudential standards rule implements risk-based and leverage 
capital, liquidity, risk-management, and stress-testing requirements. 
The enhanced prudential standards rule also requires that a foreign 
banking organization with U.S. non-branch assets of $50 billion or more 
establish a U.S. intermediate holding company that is generally subject 
to the same prudential standards as a U.S. bank holding company, 
including capital planning and stress testing requirements.
    Although the enhanced prudential standards rule and capital plan 
rule establish baseline requirements for all banking organizations that 
are subject to the rules, the Board has tailored its expectations for 
companies of different sizes, scope of operations, activities, and 
systemic importance.\7\ For example, the Board has significantly 
heightened supervisory expectations for the largest and most complex 
bank holding companies in all aspects of capital planning and expects 
these bank holding companies to have capital planning practices that 
incorporate existing leading practices.\8\ In addition, the Board 
recognizes the challenges facing bank holding companies that are new to 
CCAR and further recognizes that these bank holding companies will 
continue to develop and enhance their capital planning systems and 
processes to meet supervisory expectations.\9\
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    \7\ Capital Planning at Large Bank Holding Companies: 
Supervisory Expectations and Range of Current Practice (August 19, 
2013), p. 3, available at: http://www.federalreserve.gov/bankinforeg/bcreg20130819a1.pdf.
    \8\ Id.
    \9\ Id.
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II. Proposed Revisions to the Capital Plan and Stress Test Rules

a. Timing of Actions in the Capital Plan and Stress Test Rules

i. Timing of Capital Plan and Stress Test Cycles
    Under the current capital plan and stress test rules, the capital 
plan and stress test cycles begin on October 1, and bank holding 
companies are required to submit their capital plans and annual 
company-run stress test results to the Board by January 5 of the 
following calendar year using data as of September 30 of the preceding 
calendar year. This timing obligates these companies to conduct 
company-run stress tests and complete annual capital plans at the end 
of the calendar year, when companies are often resource-constrained due 
to other financial reporting requirements. Subject to a transition 
period as described below, the proposed rule would shift the timing by 
one calendar quarter, such that the capital plan and stress test cycles 
would begin January 1 and bank holding companies would be required to 
submit their capital plans and stress test results to the Board by 
April 5.
    Pursuant to the proposed timing revisions, for the stress test 
cycle that begins January 1, 2016, and thereafter, companies would 
conduct the annual company-run stress tests using data as of December 
31 of the preceding calendar year, and the Board would provide 
scenarios that companies must use in their company-run stress tests by 
February 15. The Board would provide a description of the trading and 
counterparty component of supervisory scenarios for bank holding 
companies subject to that component by March 1. Following a notice and 
response procedure, the Board may require a bank holding company to 
include additional scenarios or scenario components in its stress test, 
such as a counterparty default component. The Board would notify the 
bank holding company of this requirement by December 31 of the 
preceding calendar year and provide the description of any additional 
components and scenarios by March 1.
    The current rule requires bank holding companies to disclose the 
results of their annual company-run stress tests during the period 
beginning March 15 and ending March 31. Under the proposed rule, for 
the stress test cycle that begins January 1, 2016, and for stress test 
cycles thereafter, large bank holding companies and their state member 
banks subsidiaries would be required to disclose publicly the results 
of their annual company-run stress tests within 15 calendar days after 
the date on which the Board discloses the results of the bank holding 
company's supervisory stress test. Under the proposed rule, the Board 
would disclose these results no later than June 30. The Board would 
notify companies of the date on which it expects to publicly disclose a 
summary of its analyses at least two weeks before the expected 
disclosure date.
    As noted, large bank holding companies are also subject to mid-
cycle stress tests, in which bank holding companies design their own 
stress scenarios based on the definitions in the Board's stress test 
rules. Under the proposed rule, for the stress test cycle that begins 
January 1, 2016, and for stress test cycles thereafter, large bank 
holding companies would be required to conduct the mid-cycle stress 
test using data as of June 30 of that year. Following a notice and 
response procedure, the Board may require a bank holding company to use 
one or more additional components or scenarios in this stress test. The 
Board would notify the bank holding company of this requirement by June 
30 and provide the description of any additional components and 
scenarios by September 1. Bank holding companies would report the 
results of the mid-cycle stress test to the Board by October 5 and 
would publicly disclose the results in the period beginning October 5 
and ending October 20, unless the date is extended by the Board.
    The proposed rule would include a transition period to incorporate 
the proposed timing changes to the capital plan and stress test cycles. 
As in the current rule, the capital plan cycle scheduled to begin on 
October 1, 2014, would begin on that date without change, and large 
bank holding companies would be required to submit a capital plan to 
the Board by January 5, 2015. The Board would provide the company with 
a notice of non-objection or objection by March 31, 2015. In order to 
provide a transition to the proposed timing, the Federal Reserve's 
objection or non-objection to a 2015 capital plan would cover a five-
quarter period commencing with the second quarter of 2015 and extending 
through the second quarter of 2016.
    The 2015 mid-cycle stress tests would be based on data as of March 
31, 2015, and large bank holding companies would be required to report 
their results to the Board by July 5, 2015. As discussed in section 
II.a.iii of this preamble, however, the proposed rule would shift the 
disclosure timeline of the 2015 mid-cycle stress test results to be the 
period between July 5 and July 20, 2015.
    Table 1 below describes the relevant dates for stress test and 
capital plan actions that would be taken by the Board and companies 
during and after the proposed transition period.

[[Page 37422]]



Table 1--Key Dates of Proposed Transition Timeline for Annual Capital Plan and Stress Test Cycles for Large Bank
   Holding Companies (Large BHC) and State Member Banks That Are Subsidiaries of Large Bank Holding Companies
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                                      For cycle
For cycle beginning  October 1,   beginning January  Supervisory stress   Company-run stress     Capital plan
              2014                  1, 2016, and         test action         test action            action
                                     thereafter
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September 30, 2014.............  December 31 of the      As-of date for capital plan and stress test cycles.
                                  preceding
                                  calendar year.
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By September 30, 2014..........  By December 31 of   ..................  Board notifies a
                                  the preceding                           large BHC that it
                                  calendar year.                          will require the
                                                                          company to use one
                                                                          or more additional
                                                                          scenarios.
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By November 15, 2014...........  By February 15....   Board publishes scenarios for upcoming
                                                                   annual cycle.
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By December 1, 2014............  By March 1........  ..................  Board communicates
                                                                          description of any
                                                                          additional
                                                                          components or
                                                                          scenarios to a
                                                                          large BHC.
By January 5, 2015.............  By April 5........  ..................  Large BHCs submit    Large BHCs submit
                                                                          required             capital plan
                                                                          regulatory report    (including
                                                                          to the Board on      results of bank
                                                                          their stress tests.  holding company-
                                                                                               run stress
                                                                                               tests).
By March 31, 2015..............  By June 30........  Board publishes     Companies disclose   Board responds to
                                                      summary results     summary results of   a large BHC's
                                                      of the              the annual company-  capital plan and
                                                      supervisory         run stress test      publicly
                                                      stress test.        \10\.                discloses the
                                                                                               results.
By March 31, 2015..............  By June 30........  ..................  Board notifies a
                                                                          large BHC that it
                                                                          will require the
                                                                          company to use one
                                                                          or more additional
                                                                          scenarios in the
                                                                          mid-cycle stress
                                                                          test.
By June 1, 2015................  By September 1....  ..................  Board communicates
                                                                          description of any
                                                                          additional
                                                                          components or
                                                                          scenarios to a
                                                                          large BHC in the
                                                                          mid-cycle stress
                                                                          test.
By July 5, 2015................  By October 5......  ..................  Large BHCs submit
                                                                          required
                                                                          regulatory report
                                                                          to the Board on
                                                                          their mid-cycle
                                                                          stress test.
July 5-July 20.................  October 5-October   ..................  Large BHCs disclose
                                  20.                                     results of their
                                                                          mid-cycle stress
                                                                          test.
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    The proposal would make corresponding timing changes to the stress 
testing requirements for other bank holding companies, savings and loan 
holding companies, and state member banks.\11\ For the stress testing 
cycle that would begin on January 1, 2016, these entities would be 
required to  submit the results of their company-run stress tests to 
the Board by July 31 and publicly disclose those results in the period 
beginning October 15 and ending October 31.\12\ Table 2 below describes 
these proposed changes.
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    \10\ As discussed in section III.a.ii of this preamble, 
companies would disclose summary results within 15 calendar days 
after the Board discloses the summary results of its supervisory 
stress test.
    \11\ Under the current stress test rules, savings and loan 
holding companies are subject to the stress test requirements 
beginning with the stress test cycle that commences in the year 
after the year in which the company becomes subject to the Board's 
minimum regulatory capital requirements, unless the Board 
accelerates or extends that date. Savings and loan holding companies 
(other than those substantially engaged in commercial activities or 
insurance underwriting activities) are subject to the Board's 
capital requirements in the Board's Regulation Q beginning on 
January 1, 2015. The Board has not applied capital requirements to 
savings and loan holding companies that are substantially engaged in 
commercial activities or insurance underwriting activities to date. 
The Board is currently working on developing an appropriate capital 
regime for those institutions.
    \12\ As compared to the current rule, the proposed rule would 
provide bank holding companies and savings and loan holding 
companies with total consolidated assets of more than $10 billion 
but less than $50 billion and state member banks that are not 
covered company subsidiaries with an additional 30 days to report 
the results of their stress tests to the Board. This change is 
intended to further tailor the rule for these companies by providing 
them an additional month to conduct stress tests.

[[Page 37423]]



  Table 2--Key Dates of Proposed Transition Timeline for Annual Stress
   Test Cycle for Bank Holding Companies and Savings and Loan Holding
  Companies With Total Consolidated Assets Between $10-$50 Billion and
   State Member Banks That Are Not Subsidiaries of Large Bank Holding
                                Companies
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                                    For cycle
For cycle beginning October 1,  beginning January    Company-run stress
             2014                  1, 2016, and         test action
                                    thereafter
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By September 30, 2014.........  By December 31 of  Board notifies a
                                 the preceding      company that it will
                                 calendar year.     require the company
                                                    to use one or more
                                                    additional
                                                    scenarios.
By November 15, 2014..........  By February 15...  Board publishes
                                                    scenarios for
                                                    upcoming annual
                                                    cycle.
By December 1, 2014...........  By March 1.......  Board communicates
                                                    description of any
                                                    additional
                                                    components or
                                                    scenarios to
                                                    company.
By March 31, 2015.............  By July 31.......  Companies submit
                                                    required regulatory
                                                    report to the Board
                                                    on their stress
                                                    tests.\13\
June 15, 2015 through June 30.  October 15         Companies disclose
                                 through October    summary results of
                                 31.                the annual company-
                                                    run stress test.
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ii. Transition Provisions for Capital Plan and Stress Test Rules
    The proposal  would clarify and revise the transition provisions of 
the capital plan and stress test rules to take into account the 
proposed timing changes.
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    \13\ Savings and loan holding companies with total consolidated 
assets of $50 billion or more would be required to submit the 
required regulatory report to the Board in accordance with the 
schedule outlined above for large bank holding companies.
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Transition Provisions in the Capital Plan Rule
    Under the current capital plan rule, a bank holding company that 
meets the $50 billion asset threshold (based on the as of date for its 
last FR Y-9C filing) for the first time after January 5 of a given 
calendar year will not be subject to the requirements to file a capital 
plan with the Board, resubmit its capital plan, or seek approval for 
certain distributions until the following year. Accordingly, a bank 
holding company that met the asset threshold on December 31, 2014, 
would be required to submit a capital plan on January 5, 2015, even 
though it would not have filed its FR Y-9C until after that date. The 
proposed rule would revise the transition period to provide that a bank 
holding company is subject to the capital plan rule beginning on the 
first day of the first capital plan cycle that begins after the bank 
holding company meets or exceeds the $50 billion asset threshold for 
the first time. Accordingly, a bank holding company that crosses the 
asset threshold after October 1, 2014, would not be required to file a 
capital plan on January 5, 2015. The first capital plan cycle it would 
be subject to would be the one starting on October 1, 2015 (modified to 
be January 1, 2016, under the proposed rule). The Board or the 
appropriate Reserve Bank with the concurrence of the Board, could 
require a bank holding company to submit a capital plan and be subject 
to the Board's approval and limitations on capital distributions at an 
earlier date if the Board determines that the requirement is 
appropriate based on the company's risk profile, scope of operation, or 
financial condition and provides prior notice to the company of the 
determination.
Transition Provisions in the Stress Test Rules for Nonbank Financial 
Companies
    Under the current stress test rules, nonbank financial companies 
supervised by the Board are subject to stress test requirements in the 
year after those firms become subject to minimum regulatory capital 
requirements. To provide additional flexibility for the Board to tailor 
the stress test rules to nonbank financial companies, the proposed rule 
would require the Board to notify a nonbank financial company prior to 
application of the stress test rules to the nonbank financial company. 
In general, nonbank financial companies would have between 9 and 18 
months to comply with the stress test rules after they receive notice 
from the Board.
Transition Provisions in the Stress Test Rules for Bank Holding 
Companies, State Member Banks, and Savings and Loan Holding Companies
    Under the current stress test rules, a firm is subject to the 
stress testing requirements in the year following the year in which it 
crosses the asset threshold. In light of a stress test cycle start date 
of October 1, these transition provisions provide a firm no less than 
three and no more than six quarters to come into compliance with the 
rules. The proposal would maintain this length of transition period, 
given the proposed January 1 cycle start date. Under the proposal, a 
company that crosses the relevant asset threshold on or before March 31 
of a given year is subject to the stress test rules beginning on 
January 1 of the following year. If a company crosses the threshold 
after March 31, it is subject to the stress test rules beginning 
January 1 of the second year following the given year.
    The proposal would also revise the timing of the stress test rules 
applicable to bank holding companies that grow to have total 
consolidated assets of $50 billion or more. Under the stress test rules 
for large bank holding companies, a large bank holding company must 
report and disclose the results of its stress tests on an accelerated 
timeframe, as compared to a bank holding company with more than $10 
billion but less than $50 billion in total consolidated assets. The 
current applicability provisions provide a bank holding company that 
becomes subject to the large bank holding company stress test 
requirements with a several month transition period to comply with the 
accelerated stress test reporting and disclosure requirements. However, 
during that transition period, the large bank holding company would be 
required to submit a capital plan to the Board on the accelerated 
timeframe, and if the large bank holding company has a subsidiary state 
member bank, that subsidiary bank would be required to report and 
disclose the results of its stress tests on the accelerated 
timeframe.\14\
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    \14\ Similar requirements apply to national banks and state 
nonmember banks under rules adopted by the OCC and FDIC. 12 CFR 46.8 
(OCC); 12 CFR 325.207 (FDIC).
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    The proposed rule would provide that, if a bank holding company has 
more than $10 billion but less than $50 billion in total consolidated 
assets, and grows so that its total consolidated assets are equal to or 
greater than $50 billion, the bank holding company would be subject to 
the company-run stress test requirements for bank holding companies 
with total consolidated assets of $50 billion or more (subpart F) on 
the first day of the first stress test cycle following the date on 
which its average total consolidated assets equaled or exceeded $50 
billion. This

[[Page 37424]]

would align the reporting of stress test results with the submission of 
the capital plan and with the reporting and disclosure timeframe for 
state member banks, national banks, and state nonmember banks.
Transition Provisions in the Capital Plan and Stress Test Rules for 
Companies Subject to the Advanced Approaches
    The capital plan rule requires a bank holding company to use the 
advanced approaches to estimate its regulatory capital for purposes of 
its capital plan submission if the Board notifies the bank holding 
company before the first day of the capital plan cycle that the bank 
holding company is required to use the advanced approaches to determine 
its risk-based capital requirements. The stress test rules contain a 
parallel provision. As a result of the proposed change to the capital 
plan and stress tests cycle start date, a bank holding company, state 
member bank, and savings and loan holding company will be required to 
use the advanced approaches to estimate its regulatory capital in a 
given capital plan and stress test cycle if it receives notice that it 
is subject to the advanced approaches rule by December 31 of the prior 
year.
    Question 1: What if any unintended consequences would the proposed 
revisions to the applicability sections create?
iii. Disclosure Date for Company-Run Annual Stress Tests
    The public disclosures of the results of the CCAR, company-run 
stress tests, and supervisory stress tests are designed to complement 
one another. Under the Board's stress test rules, companies are 
required to publicly disclose the same types of information that the 
Federal Reserve discloses regarding the results of CCAR and its 
supervisory stress tests. This coordinated approach to public 
disclosure of the stress test and CCAR results promotes market 
discipline by facilitating a comparative understanding of this 
information, including the financial conditions and risks of the 
companies subject to the stress tests.
    Under the current capital plan rule, a large bank holding company 
is required to conduct annual company run stress tests by January 5 and 
publicly disclose the results of those stress tests under the severely 
adverse scenario between March 15 and March 31. Each year, the Board 
discloses results of its supervisory stress test by March 31. In 
conducting its company-run stress test, a bank holding company uses the 
same scenarios and assumptions that the Board uses in the supervisory 
stress scenario, but the bank holding company uses its internal models 
to project the effects of those scenarios on its financial condition.
    For the stress test cycle beginning October 1, 2014 and thereafter, 
the proposed rule would require bank holding companies to publicly 
disclose the results of their company-run stress tests within 15 days 
after the Board discloses the results of that bank holding company's 
supervisory stress test, unless that time is extended by the Board. If, 
for example, the Board publicly disclosed supervisory stress test 
results on March 30, the bank holding company would have until April 14 
to publicly disclose its company-run stress test results. Under the 
proposed rule, the Board would announce the expected date of public 
disclosure of the supervisory stress test results at least two weeks in 
advance. The Board does not expect to disclose the results of the 
supervisory stress test results before March 1 in 2015 or before June 1 
in subsequent stress test cycles.
    Question 2: The Board solicits comment on the proposed timing 
changes to the stress test disclosure requirements. In particular, how 
much advance notice do companies require to prepare their stress test 
results?
iv. Disclosure Date for Company-Run Mid-Cycle Stress Tests
    Under the current stress test rules, a large bank holding company 
is required to conduct mid-cycle stress tests by July 5 and publicly 
disclose the results of those stress tests between September 15 and 
September 30. Because the mid-cycle stress tests are conducted by bank 
holding companies based on scenarios that are appropriate for their own 
risk profile and operations, the public disclosure should reflect a 
bank holding company's own views of its capital adequacy under the 
scenarios that it develops and employs. Unlike the annual stress tests, 
the Board does not engage in a CCAR-like, in-depth review of the mid-
cycle stress test results.
    The proposed rule would accelerate the public disclosure of the 
mid-cycle stress test results. Under the proposal, a large bank holding 
company would be required to publicly disclose the results of its mid-
cycle stress test within fifteen days after it submits the results of 
its mid-cycle stress test to the Board, unless that time period was 
extended by the Board. This change would help to clarify that the Board 
does not play a direct role in the mid-cycle stress test process. It 
would also ensure that the results of the stress tests are more current 
when disclosed, thereby promoting market discipline and a public 
understanding of the financial conditions and risks of the bank holding 
company.
    Under the proposed rule, for purposes of the stress test cycle 
beginning October 1, 2014, a bank holding company would submit the 
results of its mid-cycle stress test by July 5 and would be required to 
publicly disclose the results of its stress test in the period between 
July 5 and July 20. For purposes of the stress test cycle beginning 
January 1, 2016, a bank holding company would submit the results of its 
mid-cycle stress test by October 5 and would be required to publicly 
disclose the results of its stress test in the period between October 5 
and October 20.

b. Definition of a ``BHC Stress Scenario''

    A central goal of the capital plan rule is to ensure that large 
bank holding companies have robust internal practices and policies to 
determine their adequate amount and composition of capital, given the 
bank holding company's risk exposures and corporate strategies as well 
as supervisory expectations and regulatory standards. While the stress 
scenarios designed by the Federal Reserve for use in company-run and 
supervisory stress testing are helpful in showing the comparative 
effects of a downturn in the economy across companies, these scenarios 
are created with the overall banking industry in mind, rather than a 
focus on an individual company's risk profile. To mitigate this natural 
limitation and gain a deeper understanding of an individual company's 
vulnerabilities, the capital plan rule requires each large bank holding 
company to design its own stress scenario that is appropriate to the 
company's business model and portfolios. An evaluation of the 
appropriateness of this scenario is a key part of the qualitative 
assessment carried out by supervisors in CCAR.
    Because a company's ability to design appropriate stress scenarios 
that take into consideration the company's specific vulnerabilities and 
operations has become a key area of focus in the Federal Reserve's 
assessment of capital plans, the proposed rule would add a new defined 
term, ``BHC stress scenario'' to describe the Federal Reserve's 
expectations regarding scenario design. ``BHC stress scenario'' would 
be defined in section 225.8(c) of the proposal as a scenario designed 
by the bank holding company that stresses the specific vulnerabilities 
of the bank holding company's risk profile and operations.

[[Page 37425]]

    In addition, an appropriately tailored scenario is generally 
expected to result in an impact to projected pre-tax net income that is 
at least as severe as the results of the bank holding company's company 
run stress test under the Board's severely adverse scenario. While the 
BHC stress scenario is expected to be severe enough to result in a 
substantial negative impact on capital, a stress scenario that produces 
regulatory capital and tier 1 capital ratios that are lower than those 
produced under the Board's severely adverse scenario would not, by 
itself, demonstrate that the BHC has developed an appropriate BHC 
stress scenario. It is equally critical that the stress scenario be 
designed to capture potential risks stemming from a bank holding 
company's idiosyncratic positions and activities.
    Question 3: Under what circumstances, if any, should the definition 
of ``BHC stress scenario'' include, as a supplement, other types of 
stress scenarios?

c. Modifications to Capital Plan Resubmission Requirements Under the 
Capital Plan Rule

    Currently, the capital plan rule requires a large bank holding 
company to resubmit its capital plan within 30 calendar days if the 
Board objects to the capital plan. In certain instances, a bank holding 
company may not be able to remediate the underlying issues with the 
original capital plan before the end of the 30-day period for 
resubmission. This may occur if, for example, the Board has identified 
material outstanding supervisory issues or material deficiencies in the 
company's risk measurement and management practices or internal 
controls. In such cases when the deficiencies cannot be addressed in a 
30-day timeframe, automatic resubmission requirements may be 
counterproductive by drawing a bank holding company's focus away from 
efforts to remediate the issues that gave rise to the Board's 
objection.
    The proposed rule would provide flexibility in the event that the 
Board objects to a capital plan by permitting, rather than requiring, a 
large bank holding company to resubmit its capital plan. If the Board 
objects to a bank holding company's capital plan, the bank holding 
company may choose to resubmit its plan if it wishes to seek the 
Board's non-objection to its capital plan prior to the next capital 
plan cycle. As under the existing capital plan rule, the bank holding 
company would be limited to capital distributions approved by the Board 
or the appropriate Reserve Bank until the Board provides a non-
objection to the bank holding company's resubmitted capital plan. The 
proposed rule would continue to require a bank holding company to 
resubmit its capital plan within 30 days if it determines there has 
been or will likely be a material change in the bank holding company's 
risk profile (including a material change in its business strategy or 
any risk exposure), financial condition, or corporate structure.
    The proposed rule would not change the existing provisions in the 
capital plan rule whereby the Board may direct a large bank holding 
company to revise and resubmit its capital plan under the following 
circumstances: (1) The capital plan is incomplete or the capital plan, 
or the bank holding company's internal capital adequacy process, 
contains material weaknesses; (2) there has been or will likely be a 
material change in the bank holding company's risk profile (including a 
material change in its business strategy or any risk exposure), 
financial condition, or corporate structure; (3) the stress scenario(s) 
developed by the bank holding company are not appropriate to its 
business model and portfolios, or changes in financial markets or the 
macro-economic outlook that could have a material impact on a bank 
holding company's risk profile and financial condition require the use 
of updated scenarios; or (4) the capital plan or the condition of the 
bank holding company raise any of the issues that serve as a basis for 
the Board to object to a bank holding company's capital plan.\15\ In 
determining whether there has been a material change in the bank 
holding company's risk profile, the Board may consider, among other 
factors, changes to a company's balance sheet and liquidity position or 
changes to market or financial conditions more generally.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \15\ 12 CFR 225.8(d)(4).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

d. Consequences for Failure To Execute Planned Actions, Including 
Capital Issuances, Under the Capital Plan Rule

    When reviewing a capital plan, the Board considers the bank holding 
company's description of all planned capital actions over the planning 
horizon, including both capital issuances and capital distributions, 
and relies on these descriptions of the planned capital actions as a 
basis for its action on a capital plan. The proposed rule would limit a 
large bank holding company's ability to make capital distributions to 
the extent that the bank holding company does not execute planned 
capital issuances during the capital plan cycle. This proposed change 
would address behavior observed in previous capital plan cycles, when 
some large bank holding companies included issuances of capital 
instruments in their capital plans, but did not execute these planned 
issuances.
    This behavior has the potential to undermine the Board's assessment 
in CCAR of a large bank holding company's capital adequacy. The Board's 
quantitative assessment of capital adequacy in CCAR takes into account 
all planned capital issuances over the planning horizon. If a large 
bank holding company does not execute its planned capital issuances, 
the large bank holding company will have a lower amount of capital, all 
other things being equal. To mitigate the effects of this behavior, it 
has been the Board's practice to approve repurchases of common stock on 
both a net basis and a gross basis so that a company is required to 
reduce repurchases to the extent that it does not issue as much common 
stock as it had planned. However, this practice does not limit net 
capital distributions in cases where a bank holding company is paying a 
common stock dividend, but is not repurchasing its common stock, or 
where a bank holding company issues an amount of other forms of 
regulatory capital that is less than the amount projected in its 
capital plan.
    The proposed rule would memorialize in the capital plan rule the 
Board's existing practice of approving repurchases of common stock on 
both a net basis and a gross basis and address other cases where a 
large bank holding company fails to execute the planned amount of 
capital issuances in its capital plan. Under the proposed rule, if the 
Federal Reserve does not object to a bank holding company's capital 
plan and the company raises a dollar amount of regulatory capital in a 
calendar quarter that is less than the amount that the bank holding 
company projected it would issue under baseline conditions in its 
capital plan, the bank holding company would be required to reduce the 
amount of its capital distributions on regulatory capital instruments 
with greater or equal ability to absorb losses, increase the amount of 
its capital issuances by issuing regulatory capital instruments that 
have greater or equal ability to absorb losses, or take any combination 
of the foregoing actions so that the net dollar amounts of the 
company's actual capital issuances and capital distributions in that 
calendar quarter are no less than the amounts projected in the bank 
holding company's capital plan for the calendar quarter. The proposed 
rule would

[[Page 37426]]

identify common equity tier 1 capital as having the greatest ability to 
absorb losses, followed by additional tier 1 capital, and tier 2 
capital, each as defined in the Board's Regulation Q (12 CFR 217.2).
    As a result of this provision, the net amounts of the company's 
actual capital issuances and capital distributions must be at least as 
great as the net amounts of capital issuances and capital distributions 
projected in the bank holding company's capital plan, in each case for 
a given calendar quarter.
    Example 1: A large bank holding company's most recent capital plan 
included, for a given quarter, common stock issuance of $50 million, 
dividends on common stock of $50 million, and common stock repurchases 
of $50 million (for a total of $100 million in common stock 
distributions), but the bank holding company executed only $25 million 
of its planned $50 million in common issuances for that quarter. The 
proposed rule would require the bank holding company to reduce the 
amount of its distributions on common stock (i.e., the total of its 
planned common stock dividends and repurchases) for the quarter from 
$100 million to $75 million.
    Example 2: A large bank holding company's most recent capital plan 
included, for a given quarter, common stock issuance of $50 million, 
dividends on common stock of $50 million, and preferred stock 
repurchases of $50 million, but the bank holding company executed only 
$25 million of its planned $50 million in common issuances for that 
quarter. The proposed rule would require the bank holding company to 
offset the reduction in the issuance of common stock by a decrease in 
the dividends on common stock. The proposed rule would not allow the 
bank holding company to offset the reduction in common stock issuances 
with a reduction in preferred stock repurchases or with an increase in 
preferred stock issuance, because common stock has greater capacity to 
absorb losses than preferred stock.
    Example 3: A large bank holding company's most recent capital plan 
included, for a given quarter, a common stock issuance of $25 million, 
a subordinated debt issuance of $50 million, common stock dividends of 
$50 million, and subordinated debt repurchases of $50 million for a 
given quarter, but the bank holding company failed to execute any of 
its projected subordinated debt issuance for that quarter. In this 
case, the proposed rule would require the bank holding company to 
reduce the amount of its gross distributions with respect to either 
subordinated debt or common stock, or a combination of both, for the 
quarter by $50 million. The bank holding company also could increase 
its common stock or preferred stock issuances to offset the lack of 
subordinated debt issuance.
    If a large bank holding company had contemplated a capital issuance 
to support a merger or acquisition but did not consummate the merger or 
acquisition, it would be appropriate for the bank holding company to 
maintain the gross amount of its capital distributions. In this case, 
the proposal would provide that the bank holding company is not subject 
to limitations on its common stock capital distributions to the extent 
that a planned, but not executed, capital issuance, was associated with 
the planned merger or acquisition.
    Under the proposed rule, as under the current capital plan rule, 
the Board may object to a large bank holding company's capital plan if 
the assumptions and analysis underlying the bank holding company's 
capital plan, or the bank holding company's methodologies for reviewing 
the robustness of its capital adequacy process, are not reasonable or 
appropriate. In the Board's view, a bank holding company's consistent 
failure to execute planned capital issuances may be indicative of 
shortcomings in its capital planning processes and may indicate that 
the assumptions and analysis underlying the bank holding company's 
capital plan, or the bank holding company's methodologies for reviewing 
the robustness of its capital adequacy process, are not reasonable or 
appropriate. Accordingly, the failure to execute capital issuances as 
indicated in its capital plan may form the basis for objection if the 
bank holding company is unable to explain the discrepancy between its 
planned and executed capital issuances.
    Similarly, the Board has observed a practice whereby some large 
bank holding companies have included markedly reduced distributions in 
the final three quarters of the planning horizon (i.e., the quarters 
that are not subject to objection in the current capital plan cycle, 
sometimes referred to as ``out-quarters'') relative to the 
distributions in the preceding four quarters of the capital plan (i.e., 
the distributions that are subject to possible objection in the current 
cycle). In the next capital plan cycle, when the previous capital plan 
cycle's ``out quarters'' become subject to possible objection, the bank 
holding companies submit a capital plan with significantly increased 
distributions relative to the previous capital plan cycle's ``out-
quarters,'' while again submitting reduced distributions for the ``out-
quarters'' of the new capital plan cycle.
    This practice erodes the credibility of large bank holding 
companies' capital plans. A bank holding company should project its 
distributions in the final three quarters of their capital plans based 
on realistic assumptions about the future and in a manner broadly 
consistent with, or higher than, previous quarters, unless it is in 
fact planning to reduce its distributions. In the Board's view, the 
practice of widely varying planned capital distributions based on 
whether they occur in an ``out-quarter'' as compared to a quarter that 
is subject to a possible objection, may be indicative of shortcomings 
in a bank holding company's capital planning processes and may indicate 
that ``the assumptions and analysis underlying the bank holding 
company's capital plan, or the bank holding company's methodologies for 
reviewing the robustness of its capital adequacy process, are not 
reasonable or appropriate.'' \16\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \16\ 12 CFR 225.8(e)(2)(ii)(B).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Under the capital plan rule, the Federal Reserve may object to a 
capital plan on this basis, and the practice of widely varying planned 
capital distributions therefore may form the basis for objection to a 
bank holding company's capital plan. In reviewing this type of 
practice, the Federal Reserve would consider whether the bank holding 
company is able to provide support for wide quarter-to-quarter 
variations or for significantly revising its planned distributions for 
the same period of time from one capital plan cycle to the next capital 
plan cycle.
    Question 4: What, if any, unexpected consequences might result from 
the proposed treatment of a failure to execute planned capital 
issuances? Are there circumstances other than a merger or acquisition 
under which it would be appropriate for a large bank holding company to 
maintain the gross amount of its capital distributions, even where the 
bank holding company has not executed the planned capital issuance? If 
so, describe those circumstances and explain why a bank holding company 
should be permitted to maintain the gross amount of capital 
distributions.

e. Clarification of CCAR Process for Bank Holding Company Subsidiaries 
of Foreign Banking Organizations

    As discussed above, the Board issued the enhanced prudential 
standards rule in February 2014 implementing enhanced prudential 
standards for U.S. bank holding companies and foreign banking 
organizations with total

[[Page 37427]]

consolidated assets of $50 billion or more. A foreign banking 
organization with U.S. non-branch assets of $50 billion or more is 
required to establish a U.S. intermediate holding company. This U.S. 
intermediate holding company is generally subject to the same 
prudential standards as a U.S. bank holding company, including capital 
planning and stress test requirements included in the Board's capital 
plan and stress test rules.
    The enhanced prudential standards rule requires a foreign banking 
organization that has U.S. non-branch assets of $50 billion or more as 
of July 1, 2015, to establish its U.S. intermediate holding company by 
July 1, 2016. The U.S. intermediate holding company is required to 
comply with risk-based capital requirements on July 1, 2016, and must 
submit its first capital plan on January 5, 2017 (which would be 
modified to April 5, 2017 under the proposed rule). The IHC must 
conduct its first stress test under the stress test rules beginning 
with the following stress test cycle (which would be modified to 
January 1, 2018, under the proposed rule).
    The enhanced prudential standards rule provides that each 
subsidiary bank holding company and insured depository institution of a 
foreign banking organization is subject to applicable stress testing 
requirements until October 1, 2017 (modified to January 1, 2018 in the 
proposal, at which point it is expected that the U.S. intermediate 
holding company will be subject to the full CCAR process.\17\ However, 
the enhanced prudential standards rule is silent on how the capital 
plan rule will apply to a subsidiary bank holding company with total 
consolidated assets of $50 billion or more prior to application of the 
stress test rules to the U.S. intermediate holding company.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \17\ If the foreign banking organization designated an existing 
bank holding company as its U.S. intermediate holding company, that 
bank holding company would continue to be subject to capital 
requirements under 12 CFR Part 217 until December 31, 2017, and 
stress test requirements under subparts F, G, or H of Regulation YY 
until September 30, 2017. In this event, the intermediate holding 
company would be required to submit a capital plan for the capital 
plan cycle beginning January 1, 2017, and the U.S. intermediate 
holding company would be subject to the CCAR process for that 
capital plan cycle.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The proposed rule would clarify that a bank holding company that 
was subject to the capital plan rule as of September 30, 2015 and is a 
subsidiary of a U.S. intermediate holding company would continue to be 
subject to the capital plan rule until January 1, 2018.\18\ The Federal 
Reserve would continue to evaluate the subsidiary bank holding company 
through the CCAR process through the cycle ending on December 31, 2017. 
Such bank holding company subsidiary would be subject to the 
limitations on capital distributions and prior approval and notice 
requirements for capital distributions until the Board acts on the 
capital plan of the U.S. intermediate holding company.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \18\ With the mutual consent of the company and the Board, 
another U.S. bank holding company owned by the foreign banking 
organization could comply with the requirements of the capital plan 
rule in lieu of the subsidiary bank holding company.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    As noted above, the U.S. intermediate holding company will not be 
subject to supervisory or company-run stress tests under the stress 
test rules during the stress test cycle that begins on January 1, 2017. 
Accordingly, for a U.S. intermediate holding company's initial capital 
plan cycle, the Federal Reserve's assessment of the U.S. intermediate 
holding company's capital plan will not be based on a supervisory 
stress test estimates conducted under those stress test rules.\19\ 
Instead, the Federal Reserve would conduct a more limited quantitative 
assessment of the U.S. intermediate holding company's capital plan 
based on its own stress scenario and any scenarios provided by the 
Board and a qualitative assessment of its capital planning processes 
and supporting practices.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \19\ See 12 CFR part 252, subpart E.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Pursuant to the capital plan rule, the U.S. intermediate holding 
company will be required to conduct stress tests in connection with its 
capital plan due April 5, 2017. Specifically, the Board expects that, 
in connection with the capital plans for the 2017 cycle, a U.S. 
intermediate holding company would be required to conduct stress tests 
using a baseline and a stress scenario that it had designed and the 
severely adverse scenario designed by the Board.\20\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \20\ The U.S. intermediate holding company would also be 
required to complete the relevant aspects of the FR Y-14A in 
connection with these stress tests. However, a U.S. intermediate 
holding company would not be required to publicly disclose the 
results of its stress tests.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Beginning with the following capital plan cycle, in which a capital 
plan would be due to the Board by April 5, 2018, the Board anticipates 
that it will evaluate each U.S. intermediate holding company using the 
full CCAR supervisory process, including post-stress capital analysis 
based on the supervisory stress test. During this same time period, the 
U.S. intermediate holding company will be subject to the stress test 
requirements of the stress test rules, including company-run stress 
tests under three scenarios provided by the Board.
    For the capital plan cycle in which both the U.S. intermediate 
holding company and its subsidiary bank holding company are subject to 
the capital plan rule, the Board expects that companies could submit 
certain aspects of the capital plan jointly or in a single capital plan 
that clearly sets out and explains how the capital plan for the U.S. 
intermediate holding company builds on the capital plan for the bank 
holding company. For example, if the U.S. intermediate holding company 
and the bank holding company subsidiary rely on common stress testing 
models and practices, both companies could submit the same supporting 
documentation for these models, provided that the each company's 
submissions met all of the requirements of the capital plan rule.

f. Clarification Under the Capital Plan Rule of Capital Actions Not 
Requiring Approval

    The capital plan rule provides that a large bank holding company 
must request prior approval or provide prior notice of a capital 
distribution if the ``dollar amount of the capital distribution will 
exceed the amount described in the capital plan for which a non-
objection was issued.'' \21\ This provision applies to all capital 
distributions, including those associated with regulatory capital 
instruments. Accordingly, large bank holding companies that have issued 
accretive capital instruments with fixed dividends have been required 
to seek the Board's approval or provide notice to the Board in order to 
issue these instruments. The Board has approved these requests, and 
would anticipate approving similar requests in the future, provided 
that the proposed capital issuance would result in net capital 
accretion.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \21\ See section 225.8(f) of the capital plan rule (12 CFR 
225.8(f)).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    In order to relieve burden on the bank holding companies going 
forward, the proposed rule would remove prior approval and prior notice 
requirements for distributions involving incremental issuances of 
instruments that would qualify for inclusion in the numerator of 
regulatory capital ratios (i.e., common equity tier 1, additional tier 
1, and tier 2 capital). The Board believes that removing the 
requirement will reduce unnecessary efforts by a bank holding company 
to submit requests for distributions outside of the capital plan that 
are associated with issuances of regulatory capital.
    The proposed rule would also clarify that, in measuring whether the 
dollar

[[Page 37428]]

amount of the capital distribution will exceed the amount described in 
the capital plan for which a non-objection was issued, the bank holding 
company should look at the distributions for each quarter.
    Question 5: What, if any, limitations should be imposed on this 
proposed exception? For instance, would an aggregate dollar limit in 
the range of 10 to 100 basis points of a bank holding company's tier 1 
capital be appropriate?

g. Clarification of Assumptions Regarding Capital Actions Under the 
Stress Test Rules

    The Board requires a consistent approach for incorporating assumed 
capital actions into the stress tests for all bank holding companies, 
savings and loan holding companies and state member banks. The 
prescribed capital actions help ensure that the publicly disclosed 
results of supervisory and company-run stress tests are comparable 
across companies. The Board is proposing to clarify these assumptions 
to further enhance the comparability across companies and account for 
certain contractual obligations.
    Specifically, the proposed rule would clarify that, for the second 
through ninth quarters of the planning horizon, companies should assume 
no new issuances of capital instruments eligible for inclusion in the 
numerator of a regulatory capital ratio, except for issuances related 
to expensed employee compensation. This change is in keeping with the 
Board's current practices and the existing requirement that companies 
assume no repurchase or redemption of capital instruments eligible for 
inclusion in the numerator of a regulatory capital ratio so that 
capital actions that are subject to future adjustment, market 
conditions, or regulatory approvals are not reflected in a company's 
projected regulatory capital.
    Question 6: What, if any, additional exceptions to the general 
assumption of no issuances of capital instruments should the Board 
consider? Should issuances relating to an employee stock ownership plan 
also be treated as an exception, and if so, what would be the rationale 
for this exception?

h. Other Modifications to the Capital Plan Rule and Related 
Requirements

    The proposal would revise the Board's Policy Statement on the 
Scenario Design Framework for Stress Testing and provisions governing 
applicability of the stress test requirements to U.S. intermediate 
holding companies of foreign banking organizations to reflect the 
changes in the cycle shift.
    The proposal would revise the scope of the capital plan rule to 
include any U.S. intermediate holding company and any nonbank financial 
company supervised by the Board that is made subject to this section 
pursuant to a rule or order of the Board and make clarifying changes to 
the applicability section. As discussed above in section II.a.iii of 
this preamble, the proposed rule would revise the applicability of the 
stress test rules to a nonbank financial company supervised by the 
Board to provide that the Board will notify a nonbank financial company 
prior to it being subject to the stress test rules.
    The proposal would revise the hearing procedures provided for in 
the capital plan rule. The capital plan rule provides that a large bank 
holding company may request a formal hearing after the Board objects to 
its capital plan or disapproves of a capital distribution. A formal 
hearing could take several months and up to a year, and during the 
pendency of final action by the Board, there would be uncertainty as to 
whether a bank holding company could continue to make capital 
distributions. The proposed rule would replace the formal hearing 
procedures with informal procedures modeled on those used in reviewing 
notices of appointments of directors and senior executive officers 
under Regulation Y. Under the proposal, a large bank holding company 
would have 15 days to request an informal hearing, and the hearing 
would be held within 30 days of the request. The Board would provide 
written notice of its final decision to the bank holding company within 
60 days of the conclusion of any informal hearing.
    The proposed rule also would require that a bank holding company be 
capable of providing to the Board its loss, revenue, and expense 
estimation models used by the bank holding company for stress scenario 
analysis, including supporting documentation regarding each model's 
development and validation status. This information is needed by 
supervisors in order to properly assess a bank holding company's 
capital adequacy and capital planning processes. In this regard, the 
information helps facilitate cross-firm comparisons of bank holding 
companies' loss, revenue, and expense estimation models and their 
approaches to model validation.

III. Administrative Law Matters

a. Paperwork Reduction Act

    In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) of 1995 (44 
U.S.C. 3506; 5 CFR part 1320, Appendix A.1), the Board reviewed the 
proposed rule under the authority delegated to the Board by Office of 
Management and Budget (OMB). The Board may not conduct or sponsor, and 
a respondent is not required to respond to, an information collection 
unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. The OMB 
control for this information collection is 7100-0342. In addition, as 
permitted by the PRA, the Board proposes to extend for three years, 
with revision, the Recordkeeping and Reporting Requirements Associated 
with Regulation Y (Capital Plans) (Reg Y-13; OMB No. 7100-0342).
    The proposed rule contains requirements subject to the PRA. The 
collection of information that would be revised by this proposed rule 
is found in section 225.8 of Regulation Y (12 CFR part 225). Proposed 
section 225.8(d)(3)(iv) would require that a bank holding company be 
capable of providing to the Board its loss, revenue, and expense 
estimation models used by the bank holding company for stress scenario 
analysis, including supporting documentation regarding each model's 
development and validation status. This information is needed by 
supervisors in order to properly assess a bank holding company's 
capital adequacy and capital planning processes. In this regard, the 
information helps facilitate cross-firm comparisons of bank holding 
companies' loss, revenue, and expense estimation models and their 
approaches to model validation. As mentioned in the preamble, the 
amendments to the qualitative standards in the proposed rule would 
amend the rule to include considerations that have been previously 
communicated to large bank holding companies individually and publicly. 
To reinforce the Board's focus on qualitative elements of the capital 
plan and enhance the bank holding companies' understanding of the 
capital planning assessment process, the proposed rule would enumerate 
certain elements of the qualitative considerations and bases for 
objection in the capital plan rule. The Board expects that respondents 
would encounter no additional burden associated with proposed section 
225.8(d)(3)(vi).
    Proposed section 225.8(f)(1) would remove prior approval and prior 
notice requirements for distributions involving incremental issuances 
of instruments that would qualify for inclusion in the

[[Page 37429]]

numerator of regulatory capital ratios (i.e., common equity tier 1, 
additional tier 1, and tier 2 capital). As mentioned in the preamble, 
the Board believes that removing the requirement would reduce 
unnecessary efforts by a bank holding company to submit requests for 
distributions outside of the capital plan that are associated with 
issuances of regulatory capital. The Board estimates that respondent 
burden associated with proposed section 225.8(f)(1) would be reduced by 
approximately 50 percent.
    Title of Information Collection: Recordkeeping and Reporting 
Requirements Associated with Regulation Y (Capital Plans) (Reg Y-13).
    Frequency of Response: Recordkeeping requirements, annually. 
Reporting requirements, varied--the capital plan exercise would be done 
at least annually, capital plan resubmissions and prior approval 
requirements would be event-generated.
    Affected Public: This information collection applies to every top-
tier bank holding company domiciled in the United States that has $50 
billion or more in total consolidated assets (large U.S. bank holding 
companies) and U.S. intermediate holding companies with total 
consolidated assets of $50 billion or more.
    General Description of Information Collection: This information 
collection is mandatory and the recordkeeping requirement to maintain 
the Capital Plan is in effect until either a bank holding company is no 
longer operational or until further notice by the Board. Section 616(a) 
of the Dodd-Frank Act amended section 5(b) of the Bank Holding Company 
Act (BHC Act) (12 U.S.C. 1844(b)) to specifically authorize the Board 
to issue regulations and orders relating to capital requirements for 
bank holding companies. The Board is also authorized to collect and 
require reports from bank holding companies pursuant to section 5(c) of 
the BHC Act (12 U.S.C. 1844(c)). Additionally, the Board's rulemaking 
authority for the information collection requirements associated with 
Reg Y-13 is found in sections 908 and 910 of the International Lending 
Supervision Act, as amended (12 U.S.C. 3907 and 3909). Additional 
support for Reg Y-13 is found in sections 165 and 166 of the Dodd-Frank 
Act (12 U.S.C. 5365 and 5366). The capital plan information submitted 
by the covered bank holding company would consist of confidential and 
proprietary modeling information and highly sensitive business plans, 
such as acquisition plans submitted to the Federal Reserve for 
approval. Therefore, it appears the information would be subject to 
withholding under exemption 4 of the Freedom of Information Act (5 
U.S.C. 552(b)(4)).
    Estimated Burden:
    Number of Respondents: 52.
    Estimated Burden per Response:

--.8(d)(1)(i) and (ii) Recordkeeping and Reporting, 12,000 hours
--.8(d)(1)(iii) Recordkeeping, 100 hours
--.8(d)(3)(i)-(vii) 1,000 hours
--.8(d)(4) Reporting, 100 hours
--.8(e)(3)(i) Reporting, 16 hours
--.8(f)(1), (2) and (3) Reporting, 3,400 hours
--.8(f)(5) Reporting, 16 hours

    Total Estimated Annual Burden: 670,864 hours.
    Comments are invited on: (1) Whether the proposed collection of 
information is necessary for the proper performance of the Board's 
functions; including whether the information has practical utility; (2) 
the accuracy of the Board's estimate of the burden of the proposed 
information collection, including the cost of compliance; (3) ways to 
enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be 
collected; and (4) ways to minimize the burden of information 
collection on respondents, including through the use of automated 
collection techniques or other forms of information technology. 
Secretary, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, 
Washington, DC 20551; and to the Office of Management and Budget, 
Paperwork Reduction Project (7100-0342), Washington, DC 20503.

b. Regulatory Flexibility Act Analysis

    The Board has considered the potential impact of the proposed rule 
on small companies in accordance with the Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 
U.S.C. 603(b)). Based on its analysis and for the reasons stated below, 
the Board believes that the proposed rule will not have a significant 
economic impact on a substantial number of small entities. 
Nevertheless, the Board is publishing a final regulatory flexibility 
analysis.
    Under regulations issued by the Small Business Administration 
(``SBA''), a small entity includes a depository institution, bank 
holding company, or savings and loan holding company with total assets 
of $500 million or less (a small banking organization). The proposed 
rule would apply to bank holding companies, savings and loan holding 
companies, and state member banks with total consolidated asset of $10 
billion or more and nonbank financial companies supervised by the 
Board. Companies that would be subject to the proposed rule therefore 
substantially exceed the $500 million total asset threshold at which a 
company is considered a small company under SBA regulations.
    In light of the foregoing, the Board does not believe that the 
proposed rule would have a significant economic impact on a substantial 
number of small entities.

c. Solicitation of Comments on the Use of Plain Language

    Section 722 of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (Pub. L. 106-102, 113 
Stat. 1338, 1471, 12 U.S.C. 4809) requires the federal banking agencies 
to use plain language in all proposed and final rules published after 
January 1, 2000. The Board has sought to present the proposed rule in a 
simple and straightforward manner, and invites comment on the use of 
plain language.
    For example:
     Have we organized the material to suit your needs? If not, 
how could the rule be more clearly stated?
     Are the requirements in the rule clearly stated? If not, 
how could the rule be more clearly stated?
     Do the regulations contain technical language or jargon 
that is not clear? If so, which language requires clarification?
     Would a different format (grouping and order of sections, 
use of headings, paragraphing) make the regulation easier to 
understand? If so, what changes would make the regulation easier to 
understand?
     Would more, but shorter, sections be better? If so, which 
sections should be changed?
     What else could we do to make the regulation easier to 
understand?

List of Subjects

12 CFR Part 225

    Administrative practice and procedure, Banks, Banking, Capital 
planning, Holding companies, Reporting and recordkeeping requirements 
Securities, Stress testing.

12 CFR Part 252

    Administrative practice and procedure, Banks, Banking, Capital 
planning, Federal Reserve System, Holding companies, Reporting and 
recordkeeping requirements, Securities, Stress testing.

Authority and Issuance

    For the reasons stated in the Supplementary Information, the Board 
of Governors of the Federal Reserve System proposes to amend 12 CFR 
chapter II as follows:

PART 225--BANK HOLDING COMPANIES AND CHANGE IN BANK CONTROL 
(REGULATION Y)

0
1. The authority citation for part 225 is revised to read as follows:


[[Page 37430]]


    Authority:  12 U.S.C. 1817(j)(13), 1818, 1828(o), 1831i, 1831p-
1, 1843(c)(8), 1844(b), 1972(1), 3106, 3108, 3310, 3331-3351, 3906, 
3907, and 3909; 15 U.S.C. 1681s, 1681w, 6801 and 6805.

Subpart A--General Provisions

0
2. Revise Sec.  225.8 to read as follows:


Sec.  225.8  Capital planning.

    (a) Purpose. This section establishes capital planning and prior 
notice and approval requirements for capital distributions by certain 
bank holding companies.
    (b) Scope and reservation of authority--(1) Applicability. Except 
as provided in paragraph (c) of this section, this section applies to:
    (i) Any top-tier bank holding company domiciled in the United 
States with average total consolidated assets of $50 billion or more 
($50 billion asset threshold);
    (ii) Any other bank holding company domiciled in the United States 
that is made subject to this section, in whole or in part, by order of 
the Board;
    (iii) Any U.S. intermediate holding company subject to this section 
pursuant to Sec.  252.153; and
    (iv) Any nonbank financial company supervised by the Board that is 
made subject to this section pursuant to a rule or order of the Board.
    (2) Average total consolidated assets. For purposes of this 
section, average total consolidated assets means the average of the 
total consolidated assets as reported by a bank holding company on its 
Consolidated Financial Statements for Bank Holding Companies (FR Y-9C) 
for the four most recent consecutive quarters. If the bank holding 
company has not filed the FR Y-9C for each of the four most recent 
consecutive quarters, average total consolidated assets means the 
average of the company's total consolidated assets, as reported on the 
company's FR Y-9C, for the most recent quarter or consecutive quarters 
up to the most recent four consecutive quarters. Average total 
consolidated assets are measured on the as-of date of the most recent 
FR Y-9C used in the calculation of the average.
    (3) Ongoing applicability. A bank holding company (including any 
successor bank holding company) that is subject to any requirement in 
section shall remain subject to the requirement unless and until its 
total consolidated assets fall below $50 billion for each of four 
consecutive quarters, as reported on the FR Y-9C and effective on the 
as-of date of the fourth consecutive FR Y-9C.
    (4) Reservation of authority. Nothing in this section shall limit 
the authority of the Federal Reserve to issue a capital directive or 
take any other supervisory or enforcement action, including an action 
to address unsafe or unsound practices or conditions or violations of 
law.
    (5) Rule of construction. Unless the context otherwise requires, 
any reference to bank holding company in this section shall include a 
U.S. intermediate holding company and shall include a nonbank financial 
company supervised by the Board to the extent this section is made 
applicable pursuant to a rule or order of the Board.
    (c) Transitional arrangements--(1) Transition periods for certain 
bank holding companies. (i) A bank holding company is subject to this 
section beginning on the first day of the first capital plan cycle that 
begins after the bank holding company meets or exceeds the $50 billion 
asset threshold (as measured under paragraph (b)(1) of this section) 
for the first time, unless that time is extended by the Board in 
writing.
    (ii) The Board or the appropriate Reserve Bank with the concurrence 
of the Board, may require a bank holding company described in paragraph 
(c)(1)(i) of this section to comply with any or all of the requirements 
in paragraphs (e)(1), (e)(3), (f), or (g) of this section if the Board 
or appropriate Reserve Bank with concurrence of the Board, determines 
that the requirement is appropriate on a different date based on the 
company's risk profile, scope of operation, or financial condition and 
provides prior notice to the company of the determination.
    (2) Transition periods for subsidiaries of certain foreign banking 
organizations--(i) Bank holding companies that rely on SR Letter 01-01. 
(A) A bank holding company that meets the $50 billion asset threshold 
(as measured under paragraph (b)(1) of this section) and is relying as 
of July 20, 2015, on Supervision and Regulation Letter SR 01-01 issued 
by the Board (as in effect on May 19, 2010) is subject to this section 
beginning on January 1, 2016, unless that time is extended by the Board 
in writing.
    (B) The Board or the appropriate Reserve Bank with the concurrence 
of the Board, may require a bank holding company described in paragraph 
(c)(2)(i)(A) of this section to comply with any or all of the 
requirements in paragraphs (e)(1), (e)(3), (f), or (g) of this section 
if the Board or appropriate Reserve Bank with concurrence of the Board, 
determines that the requirement is appropriate on a different date 
based on the company's risk profile, scope of operation, or financial 
condition and provides prior notice to the company of the 
determination.
    (ii) U.S. intermediate holding companies. (A) A U.S. intermediate 
holding company is subject to this section beginning on the first day 
of the next capital plan cycle after the date that the U.S. 
intermediate holding company is required to be established pursuant to 
Sec.  252.153, unless that time is extended by the Board in writing.
    (B) The Board or the appropriate Reserve Bank with the concurrence 
of the Board, may require a U.S. intermediate holding company described 
in paragraph (c)(2)(ii)(A) of this section to comply with any or all of 
the requirements in paragraphs (e)(1), (e)(3), (f), or (g) of this 
section if the Board or appropriate Reserve Bank with concurrence of 
the Board, determines that the requirement is appropriate on a 
different date based on the company's risk profile, scope of operation, 
or financial condition and provides prior notice to the company of the 
determination.
    (iii) Bank holding company subsidiaries of U.S. intermediate 
holding companies required to be established by July 1, 2016. (A) 
Notwithstanding any other requirement in this section, a bank holding 
company that is a subsidiary of a U.S. intermediate holding company and 
is subject to this section on January 1, 2016 (or, with the mutual 
consent of the company and Board, another bank holding company 
domiciled in the United States), shall remain subject to paragraph (e) 
of this section until December 31, 2017, and shall remain subject to 
the requirements of paragraphs (f) and (g) of this section until the 
Board issues an objection or non-objection to the capital plan of the 
relevant U.S. intermediate holding company.
    (B) After the time periods set forth in paragraph (c)(iii)(A) of 
this section, this section will cease to apply to a bank holding 
company that is a subsidiary of a U.S. intermediate holding company, 
unless otherwise determined by the Board in writing.
    (3) Transition periods for bank holding companies subject to the 
advanced approaches. (i) Notwithstanding any other requirement in this 
section, a bank holding company must use 12 CFR part 225, appendices A 
and E (as applicable), and 12 CFR part 252, subpart D and E, as 
applicable, to estimate its pro forma regulatory capital ratios and its 
pro forma tier 1 common ratio for the capital plan cycle beginning 
October 1, 2014, and the bank holding

[[Page 37431]]

company may not use the advanced approaches to estimate its pro forma 
regulatory capital ratios and its pro forma tier 1 common ratio until 
January 1, 2016.
    (ii) Beginning January 1, 2016, a bank holding company must use the 
advanced approaches to estimate its pro forma regulatory capital ratios 
and its pro forma tier 1 common ratio for purposes of its capital plan 
submission under paragraph (e) of this section if the Board notifies 
the bank holding company before the first day of the capital plan cycle 
that the bank holding company is required to use the advanced 
approaches to determine its risk-based capital requirements.
    (d) Definitions. For purposes of this section, the following 
definitions apply:
    (1) Advanced approaches means the risk-weighted assets calculation 
methodologies at 12 CFR part 217, subpart E, as applicable, and any 
successor regulation.
    (2) BHC stress scenario means a scenario designed by a bank holding 
company that stresses the specific vulnerabilities of the bank holding 
company's risk profile and operations, including those related to the 
company's capital adequacy and financial condition.
    (3) Capital action means any issuance or redemption of a debt or 
equity capital instrument, any capital distribution, and any similar 
action that the Federal Reserve determines could impact a bank holding 
company's consolidated capital.
    (4) Capital distribution means a redemption or repurchase of any 
debt or equity capital instrument, a payment of common or preferred 
stock dividends, a payment that may be temporarily or permanently 
suspended by the issuer on any instrument that is eligible for 
inclusion in the numerator of any minimum regulatory capital ratio, and 
any similar transaction that the Federal Reserve determines to be in 
substance a distribution of capital.
    (5) Capital plan means a written presentation of a bank holding 
company's capital planning strategies and capital adequacy process that 
includes the mandatory elements set forth in paragraph (e)(2) of this 
section.
    (6) Capital plan cycle means:
    (i) Until September 30, 2015, the period beginning October 1 of a 
calendar year and ending on September 30 of the following calendar 
year, and
    (ii) Beginning October 1, 2015, the period beginning January 1 of a 
calendar year and ending on December 31 of that year.
    (7) Capital policy means a bank holding company's written 
assessment of the principles and guidelines used for capital planning, 
capital issuance, capital usage and distributions, including internal 
capital goals; the quantitative or qualitative guidelines for capital 
distributions; the strategies for addressing potential capital 
shortfalls; and the internal governance procedures around capital 
policy principles and guidelines.
    (8) Minimum regulatory capital ratio means any minimum regulatory 
capital ratio that the Federal Reserve may require of a bank holding 
company, by regulation or order, including, as applicable, the bank 
holding company's tier 1 and supplementary leverage ratios and common 
equity tier 1, tier 1, and total risk-based capital ratios as 
calculated under appendices A, D, and E to this part (12 CFR part 225) 
and 12 CFR part 217, as applicable, including the transition provisions 
at 12 CFR 217.1(f)(4) and 12 CFR 217.300, or any successor regulation.
    (9) Nonbank financial company supervised by the Board means a 
company that the Council has determined under section 113 of the Dodd-
Frank Act (12 U.S.C. 5323) shall be supervised by the Board and for 
which such determination is still in effect.
    (10) Planning horizon means the period of at least nine consecutive 
quarters, beginning with the quarter preceding the quarter in which the 
bank holding company submits its capital plan, over which the relevant 
projections extend.
    (11) Tier 1 capital has the same meaning as under appendix A to 
this part or under 12 CFR part 217, as applicable, or any successor 
regulation.
    (12) Tier 1 common capital means tier 1 capital as defined under 
appendix A to this part less the non-common elements of tier 1 capital, 
including perpetual preferred stock and related surplus, minority 
interest in subsidiaries, trust preferred securities and mandatory 
convertible preferred securities.
    (13) Tier 1 common ratio means the ratio of a bank holding 
company's tier 1 common capital to total risk-weighted assets as 
defined under appendices A and E to this part.
    (14) U.S. intermediate holding company means the top-tier U.S. 
company that is required to be established pursuant to Sec.  252.153.
    (e) General requirements--(1) Annual capital planning. (i) A bank 
holding company must develop and maintain a capital plan.
    (ii) A bank holding company must submit its complete capital plan 
to the Board and the appropriate Reserve Bank each year. For the 
capital plan cycle beginning October 1, 2014, the capital plan must be 
submitted by January 5, 2015, or such later date as directed by the 
Board or by the appropriate Reserve Bank with concurrence of the Board. 
For each capital plan cycle beginning thereafter, the capital plan must 
be submitted by April 5, or such later date as directed by the Board or 
by the appropriate Reserve Bank with concurrence of the Board.
    (iii) The bank holding company's board of directors or a designated 
committee thereof must at least annually and prior to submission of the 
capital plan under paragraph (e)(1)(ii) of this section:
    (A) Review the robustness of the bank holding company's process for 
assessing capital adequacy,
    (B) Ensure that any deficiencies in the bank holding company's 
process for assessing capital adequacy are appropriately remedied; and
    (C) Approve the bank holding company's capital plan.
    (2) Mandatory elements of capital plan. A capital plan must contain 
at least the following elements:
    (i) An assessment of the expected uses and sources of capital over 
the planning horizon that reflects the bank holding company's size, 
complexity, risk profile, and scope of operations, assuming both 
expected and stressful conditions, including:
    (A) Estimates of projected revenues, losses, reserves, and pro 
forma capital levels, including any minimum regulatory capital ratios 
(for example, leverage, tier 1 risk-based, and total risk-based capital 
ratios) and any additional capital measures deemed relevant by the bank 
holding company, over the planning horizon under expected conditions 
and under a range of scenarios, including any scenarios provided by the 
Federal Reserve and at least one BHC stress scenario;
    (B) A calculation of the pro forma tier 1 common ratio over the 
planning horizon under expected conditions and under a range of 
stressed scenarios and discussion of how the company will maintain a 
pro forma tier 1 common ratio above 5 percent under expected conditions 
and the stressed scenarios required under paragraphs (e)(2)(i)(A) and 
(e)(2)(ii) of this section;
    (C) A discussion of the results of any stress test required by law 
or regulation, and an explanation of how the capital plan takes these 
results into account; and
    (D) A description of all planned capital actions over the planning 
horizon.

[[Page 37432]]

    (ii) A detailed description of the bank holding company's process 
for assessing capital adequacy, including:
    (A) A discussion of how the bank holding company will, under 
expected and stressful conditions, maintain capital commensurate with 
its risks, maintain capital above the minimum regulatory capital ratios 
and above a tier 1 common ratio of 5 percent, and serve as a source of 
strength to its subsidiary depository institutions;
    (B) A discussion of how the bank holding company will, under 
expected and stressful conditions, maintain sufficient capital to 
continue its operations by maintaining ready access to funding, meeting 
its obligations to creditors and other counterparties, and continuing 
to serve as a credit intermediary;
    (iii) The bank holding company's capital policy; and
    (iv) A discussion of any expected changes to the bank holding 
company's business plan that are likely to have a material impact on 
the bank holding company's capital adequacy or liquidity.
    (3) Data collection. Upon the request of the Board or appropriate 
Reserve Bank, the bank holding company shall provide the Federal 
Reserve with information regarding:
    (i) The bank holding company's financial condition, including its 
capital;
    (ii) The bank holding company's structure;
    (iii) Amount and risk characteristics of the bank holding company's 
on- and off-balance sheet exposures, including exposures within the 
bank holding company's trading account, other trading-related exposures 
(such as counterparty-credit risk exposures) or other items sensitive 
to changes in market factors, including, as appropriate, information 
about the sensitivity of positions to changes in market rates and 
prices;
    (iv) The bank holding company's relevant policies and procedures, 
including risk management policies and procedures;
    (v) The bank holding company's liquidity profile and management;
    (vi) The loss, revenue, and expense estimation models used by the 
bank holding company for stress scenario analysis, including supporting 
documentation regarding each model's development and validation; and
    (vii) Any other relevant qualitative or quantitative information 
requested by the Board or by the appropriate Reserve Bank to facilitate 
review of the bank holding company's capital plan under this section.
    (4) Re-submission of a capital plan. (i) A bank holding company 
must update and re-submit its capital plan to the appropriate Reserve 
Bank within 30 calendar days of the occurrence of one of the following 
events:
    (A) The bank holding company determines there has been or will be a 
material change in the bank holding company's risk profile, financial 
condition, or corporate structure since the bank holding company last 
submitted the capital plan to the Board and the appropriate Reserve 
Bank under this section; or
    (B) The Board or the appropriate Reserve Bank with concurrence of 
the Board, directs the bank holding company in writing to revise and 
resubmit its capital plan for any of the following reasons:
    (1) The capital plan is incomplete or the capital plan, or the bank 
holding company's internal capital adequacy process, contains material 
weaknesses;
    (2) There has been, or will likely be, a material change in the 
bank holding company's risk profile (including a material change in its 
business strategy or any risk exposure), financial condition, or 
corporate structure;
    (3) The BHC stress scenario(s) are not appropriate to the bank 
holding company's business model and portfolios, or changes in 
financial markets or the macro-economic outlook that could have a 
material impact on a bank holding company's risk profile and financial 
condition require the use of updated scenarios; or
    (4) The capital plan or the condition of the bank holding company 
raise any of the issues described in paragraph (e)(2)(ii) of this 
section.
    (ii) A bank holding company may resubmit its capital plan to the 
Federal Reserve if the Board or the appropriate Reserve Bank objects to 
the capital plan.
    (iii) The Board or the appropriate Reserve Bank with concurrence of 
the Board, may extend the 30-day period in paragraph (e)(4)(i) of this 
section for up to an additional 60 calendar days, or such longer period 
as the Board or the appropriate Reserve Bank, with concurrence of the 
Board, determines in its discretion appropriate.
    (iv) Any updated capital plan must satisfy all the requirements of 
this section; however, a bank holding company may continue to rely on 
information submitted as part of a previously submitted capital plan to 
the extent that the information remains accurate and appropriate.
    (5) Confidential treatment of information submitted. The 
confidentiality of information submitted to the Board under this 
section and related materials shall be determined in accordance with 
applicable exemptions under the Freedom of Information Act (5 U.S.C. 
552(b)) and the Board's Rules Regarding Availability of Information (12 
CFR part 261).
    (f) Review of capital plans by the Federal Reserve; publication of 
summary results--(1) Considerations and inputs. (i) The Board or the 
appropriate Reserve Bank with concurrence of the Board, will consider 
the following factors in reviewing a bank holding company's capital 
plan:
    (A) The comprehensiveness of the capital plan, including the extent 
to which the analysis underlying the capital plan captures and 
addresses potential risks stemming from activities across the firm and 
the company's capital policy;
    (B) The reasonableness of the bank holding company's capital plan, 
the assumptions and analysis underlying the capital plan, and the 
robustness of its capital adequacy process; and
    (C) The bank holding company's ability to maintain capital above 
each minimum regulatory capital ratio and above a tier 1 common ratio 
of 5 percent on a pro forma basis under expected and stressful 
conditions throughout the planning horizon, including but not limited 
to any scenarios required under paragraphs (e)(2)(i)(A) and (e)(2)(ii) 
of this section.
    (ii) The Board or the appropriate Reserve Bank with concurrence of 
the Board, will also consider the following information in reviewing a 
bank holding company's capital plan:
    (A) Relevant supervisory information about the bank holding company 
and its subsidiaries;
    (B) The bank holding company's regulatory and financial reports, as 
well as supporting data that would allow for an analysis of the bank 
holding company's loss, revenue, and reserve projections;
    (C) As applicable, the Federal Reserve's own pro forma estimates of 
the firm's potential losses, revenues, reserves, and resulting capital 
adequacy under expected and stressful conditions, including but not 
limited to any scenarios required under paragraphs (e)(2)(i)(A) and 
(e)(2)(ii) of this section, as well as the results of any stress tests 
conducted by the bank holding company or the Federal Reserve; and
    (D) Other information requested or required by the Board or the 
appropriate Reserve Bank, as well as any other information relevant, or 
related, to the bank holding company's capital adequacy.
    (2) Federal Reserve action on a capital plan. (i) The Board or the 
appropriate

[[Page 37433]]

Reserve Bank with concurrence of the Board, will object, in whole or in 
part, to the capital plan or provide the bank holding company with a 
notice of non-objection to the capital plan:
    (A) For the capital plan cycle beginning October 1, 2014, by March 
31, 2015;
    (B) For each capital plan cycle beginning thereafter, by June 30 of 
the calendar year in which a capital plan was submitted pursuant to 
paragraph (e)(1)(ii) of this section; and
    (C) For a capital plan resubmitted pursuant to paragraph (e)(4) of 
this section, within 75 calendar days after the date on which a capital 
plan is resubmitted, unless the Board provides notice to the company 
that it is extending the time period.
    (ii) The Board or the appropriate Reserve Bank with concurrence of 
the Board, may object to a capital plan if it determines that:
    (A) The bank holding company has material unresolved supervisory 
issues, including but not limited to issues associated with its capital 
adequacy process;
    (B) The assumptions and analysis underlying the bank holding 
company's capital plan, or the bank holding company's methodologies for 
reviewing the robustness of its capital adequacy process, are not 
reasonable or appropriate;
    (C) The bank holding company has not demonstrated an ability to 
maintain capital above each minimum regulatory capital ratio and above 
a tier 1 common ratio of 5 percent, on a pro forma basis under expected 
and stressful conditions throughout the planning horizon; or
    (D) The bank holding company's capital planning process or proposed 
capital distributions otherwise constitute an unsafe or unsound 
practice, or would violate any law, regulation, Board order, directive, 
or condition imposed by, or written agreement with, the Board. In 
determining whether a capital plan or any proposed capital distribution 
would constitute an unsafe or unsound practice, the Board or the 
appropriate Reserve Bank would consider whether the bank holding 
company is and would remain in sound financial condition after giving 
effect to the capital plan and all proposed capital distributions.
    (iii) The Board or the appropriate Reserve Bank will notify the 
bank holding company in writing of the reasons for a decision to object 
to a capital plan.
    (iv) If the Board or the appropriate Reserve Bank objects to a 
capital plan and until such time as the Board or the appropriate 
Reserve Bank with concurrence of the Board, issues a non-objection to 
the bank holding company's capital plan, the bank holding company may 
not make any capital distribution, other than those capital 
distributions associated with a new issuance of instruments eligible 
for inclusion in the numerator of a minimum regulatory capital ratio or 
capital distributions with respect to which the Board or the 
appropriate Reserve Bank has indicated in writing its non-objection.
    (v)(A) If the Federal Reserve does not object to a bank holding 
company's capital plan and the company raises a smaller dollar amount 
of regulatory capital in a calendar quarter than the bank holding 
company projected that it would issue under baseline conditions in its 
capital plan, the bank holding company must reduce the dollar amount of 
its capital distributions on regulatory capital instruments with 
greater or equal ability to absorb losses, increase the dollar amount 
of its capital issuances by issuing regulatory capital instruments that 
have greater or equal ability to absorb losses, or take any combination 
of the foregoing actions such that the net dollar amounts of the 
company's actual capital issuances and capital distributions in that 
calendar quarter are no less than the amounts projected in the bank 
holding company's capital plan for the calendar quarter.
    (B) For purposes of paragraph (f)(2)(v)(A) of this section and in 
decreasing order of their ability to absorb losses, the applicable 
categories of regulatory capital instruments are common equity tier 1 
capital, additional tier 1 capital, and tier 2 capital, each as defined 
in 12 CFR 217.2.
    (C) Paragraph (f)(2)(v)(A) of this section shall not apply to a 
capital issuance to the extent that a planned but unexecuted issuance 
of a capital instrument relates to a planned merger or acquisition that 
is no longer expected to be consummated.
    (vi) The Board may disclose publicly its decision to object or not 
object to a bank holding company's capital plan under this section, 
along with a summary of the Board's analyses of that company. Any 
disclosure under this paragraph will occur by March 31 (for the capital 
plan cycle beginning October 1, 2014) or June 30 (for each capital plan 
cycle beginning thereafter), unless the Board determines that a later 
disclosure date is appropriate.
    (3) Request for reconsideration or hearing--(i) General. Within 10 
calendar days of receipt of a notice of objection to a capital plan by 
the Board or the appropriate Reserve Bank:
    (A) A bank holding company may submit a written request to the 
Board requesting reconsideration of the objection, including an 
explanation of why reconsideration should be granted. Within 10 
calendar days of receipt of the bank holding company's request, the 
Board will notify the company of its decision to affirm or withdraw the 
objection to the bank holding company's capital plan or a specific 
capital distribution; or
    (B) As an alternative to paragraph (f)(3)(i)(A) of this section, a 
bank holding company may request an informal hearing on the objection.
    (ii) Request for an informal hearing. (A) A request for an informal 
hearing shall be in writing and shall be submitted within 15 days of a 
notice of an objection. The Board may, in its sole discretion, order an 
informal hearing if the Board finds that a hearing is appropriate or 
necessary to resolve disputes regarding material issues of fact.
    (B) An informal hearing shall be held within 30 days of a request, 
if granted, provided that the Board may extend this period upon notice 
to the requesting party.
    (C) Written notice of the final decision of the Board shall be 
given to the bank holding company within 60 days of the conclusion of 
any informal hearing ordered by the Board, provided that the Board may 
extend this period upon notice to the requesting party.
    (D) While the Board's final decision is pending and until such time 
as the Board or the appropriate Reserve Bank with concurrence of the 
Board, issues a non-objection to the bank holding company's capital 
plan, the bank holding company may not make any capital distribution, 
other than those capital distributions with respect to which the Board 
or the appropriate Reserve Bank has indicated in writing its non-
objection.
    (4) Application of this section to other bank holding companies. 
The Board may apply this section, in whole or in part, to any other 
bank holding company by order based on the institution's size, level of 
complexity, risk profile, scope of operations, or financial condition.
    (g) Approval requirements for certain capital actions--(1) 
Circumstances requiring approval. Notwithstanding a notice of non-
objection under paragraph (e)(2)(i) of this section, a bank holding 
company may not make a capital distribution (excluding any capital 
distribution arising from the issuance of a debt or equity capital 
instrument that is eligible for inclusion in the numerator of a minimum 
regulatory capital ratio) under the following circumstances, unless it 
receives prior approval from

[[Page 37434]]

the Board or appropriate Reserve Bank pursuant to paragraph (g)(4) of 
this section:
    (i) After giving effect to the capital distribution, the bank 
holding company would not meet a minimum regulatory capital ratio or a 
tier 1 common ratio of at least 5 percent;
    (ii) The Board or the appropriate Reserve Bank with concurrence of 
the Board, notifies the company in writing that the Federal Reserve has 
determined that the capital distribution would result in a material 
adverse change to the organization's capital or liquidity structure or 
that the company's earnings were materially underperforming 
projections;
    (iii) Except as provided in paragraph (g)(2) of this section, the 
dollar amount of the capital distribution in a given calendar quarter, 
will exceed the amount described in the capital plan for that quarter 
for which a non-objection was issued under this section; or
    (iv) The capital distribution would occur after the occurrence of 
an event requiring resubmission under paragraphs (g)(4)(i)(A) or (B) of 
this section and before the Federal Reserve has acted on the 
resubmitted capital plan.
    (2) Exception for well capitalized bank holding companies. (i) A 
bank holding company may make a capital distribution for which the 
dollar amount exceeds the amount described in the capital plan for 
which a non-objection was issued under this section if the following 
conditions are satisfied:
    (A) The bank holding company is, and after the capital distribution 
would remain, well capitalized as defined in Sec.  225.2(r) of 
Regulation Y (12 CFR 225.2(r));
    (B) The bank holding company's performance and capital levels are, 
and after the capital distribution would remain, consistent with its 
projections under expected conditions as set forth in its capital plan 
under paragraph (e)(2)(i) of this section;
    (C) The annual aggregate dollar amount of all capital distributions 
(for purposes of the capital plan cycle beginning October 1, 2014, in 
the period beginning April 1, 2015 and ending on March 31, 2016, and 
for purposes of each capital plan cycle beginning thereafter, in the 
period beginning July 1 of a calendar year and ending on June 30 of the 
following calendar year) would not exceed the total amounts described 
in the company's capital plan for which the bank holding company 
received a notice of non-objection by more than 1.00 percent multiplied 
by the bank holding company's tier 1 capital, as reported to the 
Federal Reserve on the bank holding company's first quarter FR Y-9C;
    (D) The bank holding company provides the appropriate Reserve Bank 
with notice 15 calendar days prior to a capital distribution that 
includes the elements described in paragraph (g)(3) of this section; 
and
    (E) The Board or the appropriate Reserve Bank with concurrence of 
the Board, does not object to the transaction proposed in the notice. 
In determining whether to object to the proposed transaction, the Board 
or the appropriate Reserve Bank shall apply the criteria described in 
paragraph (g)(4)(iv) of this section.
    (ii) The exception in this paragraph (g)(2) shall not apply if the 
Board or the appropriate Reserve Bank notifies the bank holding company 
in writing that it may not take advantage of this exception.
    (3) Contents of request. (i) A request for a capital distribution 
under this section shall be filed with the appropriate Reserve Bank and 
the Board and shall contain the following information:
    (A) The bank holding company's current capital plan or an 
attestation that there have been no changes to the capital plan since 
it was last submitted to the Federal Reserve;
    (B) The purpose of the transaction;
    (C) A description of the capital distribution, including for 
redemptions or repurchases of securities, the gross consideration to be 
paid and the terms and sources of funding for the transaction, and for 
dividends, the amount of the dividend(s); and
    (D) Any additional information requested by the Board or the 
appropriate Reserve Bank (which may include, among other things, an 
assessment of the bank holding company's capital adequacy under a 
revised stress scenario provided by the Federal Reserve, a revised 
capital plan, and supporting data).
    (ii) Any request submitted with respect to a capital distribution 
described in paragraph (g)(1)(i) of this section shall also include a 
plan for restoring the bank holding company's capital to an amount 
above a minimum level within 30 days and a rationale for why the 
capital distribution would be appropriate.
    (4) Approval of certain capital distributions. (i) The Board or the 
appropriate Reserve Bank with concurrence of the Board, will act on a 
request under this paragraph (g)(4) within 30 calendar days after the 
receipt of all the information required under paragraph (g)(3) of this 
section.
    (ii) In acting on a request under this paragraph, the Board or 
appropriate Reserve Bank will apply the considerations and principles 
in paragraph (f) of this section. In addition, the Board or the 
appropriate Reserve Bank may disapprove the transaction if the bank 
holding company does not provide all of the information required to be 
submitted under paragraph (g)(3) of this section.
    (5) Disapproval and hearing. (i) The Board or the appropriate 
Reserve Bank will notify the bank holding company in writing of the 
reasons for a decision to disapprove any proposed capital distribution. 
Within 15 calendar days after receipt of a disapproval by the Board, 
the bank holding company may submit a written request for a hearing.
    (A) The Board may, in its sole discretion, order an informal 
hearing if the Board finds that a hearing is appropriate or necessary 
to resolve disputes regarding material issues of fact.
    (B) An informal hearing shall be held within 30 days of a request, 
if granted, provided that the Board may extend this period upon notice 
to the requesting party.
    (C) Written notice of the final decision of the Board shall be 
given to the bank holding company within 60 days of the conclusion of 
any informal hearing ordered by the Board, provided that the Board may 
extend this period upon notice to the requesting party.
    (D) While the Board's final decision is pending and until such time 
as the Board or the appropriate Reserve Bank with concurrence of the 
Board, approves the capital distribution at issue, the bank holding 
company may not make such capital distribution.
0
3. The removal of appendix A to part 225 at 78 FR 62017 (October 11, 
2013) is withdrawn.

PART 252--ENHANCED PRUDENTIAL STANDARDS (REGULATION YY)

0
4. The authority citation for part 252 is revised to read as follows:

    Authority:  12 U.S.C. 321-338a, 1467a(g), 1818, 1831p-1, 
1844(b), 1844(c), 5361, 5365, 5366.

0
5. Subpart B is revised to read as follows:
Subpart B--Company-Run Stress Test Requirements for Certain U.S. 
Banking Organizations With Total Consolidated Assets Over $10 Billion 
and Less Than $50 Billion
Sec.
252.10 [Reserved]
252.11 Authority and purpose.
252.12 Definitions.
252.13 Applicability.

[[Page 37435]]

252.14 Annual stress test.
252.15 Methodologies and practices.
252.16 Reports of stress test results.
252.17 Disclosure of stress test results.


Sec.  252.10  [Reserved]


Sec.  252.11  Authority and purpose.

    (a) Authority. 12 U.S.C. 321-338a, 1467a(g), 1818, 1831o, 1831p-1, 
1844(b), 1844(c), 3906-3909, 5365.
    (b) Purpose. This subpart implements section 165(i)(2) of the Dodd-
Frank Act (12 U.S.C. 5365(i)(2)), which requires a bank holding company 
with total consolidated assets of greater than $10 billion but less 
than $50 billion and savings and loan holding companies and state 
member banks with total consolidated assets of greater than $10 billion 
to conduct annual stress tests. This subpart also establishes 
definitions of stress test and related terms, methodologies for 
conducting stress tests, and reporting and disclosure requirements.


Sec.  252.12  Definitions.

    For purposes of this subpart, the following definitions apply:
    (a) Advanced approaches means the regulatory capital requirements 
at 12 CFR part 217, subpart E, as applicable, and any successor 
regulation.
    (b) Adverse scenario means a set of conditions that affect the U.S. 
economy or the financial condition of a bank holding company, savings 
and loan holding company, or state member bank that are more adverse 
than those associated with the baseline scenario and may include 
trading or other additional components.
    (c) Asset threshold means:
    (1) For a bank holding company, average total consolidated assets 
of greater than $10 billion but less than $50 billion, and
    (2) For a savings and loan holding company or state member bank, 
average total consolidated assets of greater than $10 billion.
    (d) Average total consolidated assets means the average of the 
total consolidated assets as reported by a bank holding company, 
savings and loan holding company, or state member bank on its 
Consolidated Financial Statements for Bank Holding Companies (FR Y-9C) 
or Consolidated Report of Condition and Income (Call Report), as 
applicable, for the four most recent consecutive quarters. If the bank 
holding company, savings and loan holding company, or state member bank 
has not filed the FR Y-9C or Call Report, as applicable, for each of 
the four most recent consecutive quarters, average total consolidated 
assets means the average of the company's total consolidated assets, as 
reported on the company's FR Y-9C or Call Report, as applicable, for 
the most recent quarter or consecutive quarters. Average total 
consolidated assets are measured on the as-of date of the most recent 
FR Y-9C or Call Report, as applicable, used in the calculation of the 
average.
    (e) Bank holding company has the same meaning as in Sec.  225.2(c) 
of the Board's Regulation Y (12 CFR 225.2(c)).
    (f) Baseline scenario means a set of conditions that affect the 
U.S. economy or the financial condition of a bank holding company, 
savings and loan holding company, or state member bank, and that 
reflect the consensus views of the economic and financial outlook.
    (g) Capital action has the same meaning as in Sec.  225.8(c)(2) of 
the Board's Regulation Y (12 CFR 225.8(c)(2)).
    (h) Covered company subsidiary means a state member bank that is a 
subsidiary of a covered company as defined in subpart F of this part.
    (i) Depository institution has the same meaning as in section 3 of 
the Federal Deposit Insurance Act (12 U.S.C. 1813(c)).
    (j) Foreign banking organization has the same meaning as in Sec.  
211.21(o) of the Board's Regulation K (12 CFR 211.21(o)).
    (k) Planning horizon means the period of at least nine consecutive 
quarters, beginning on the first day of a stress test cycle over which 
the relevant projections extend.
    (l) Pre-provision net revenue means the sum of net interest income 
and non-interest income less expenses before adjusting for loss 
provisions.
    (m) Provision for loan and lease losses means the provision for 
loan and lease losses as reported by the bank holding company, savings 
and loan holding company, or state member bank on the FR Y-9C or Call 
Report, as appropriate.
    (n) Regulatory capital ratio means a capital ratio for which the 
Board established minimum requirements for the company by regulation or 
order, including, as applicable, a company's tier 1 and supplementary 
leverage ratio and common equity tier 1, tier 1, and total risk-based 
capital ratios as calculated under the Board's regulations, including 
appendices A, D, and E to 12 CFR part 225, appendices A, B, and E to 12 
CFR part 208, and 12 CFR part 217, as applicable, including the 
transition provisions at 12 CFR 217.1(f)(4) and 12 CFR 217.300, or any 
successor regulation. For state member banks other than covered company 
subsidiaries and for all bank holding companies, for the stress test 
cycle that commences on October 1, 2013, regulatory capital ratios must 
be calculated pursuant to the regulatory capital framework set forth in 
12 CFR part 225, appendix A, and not the regulatory capital framework 
set forth in 12 CFR part 217.
    (o) Savings and loan holding company has the same meaning as in 
Sec.  238.2(m) of the Board's Regulation LL (12 CFR 238.2(m)).
    (p) Scenarios are those sets of conditions that affect the U.S. 
economy or the financial condition of a bank holding company, savings 
and loan holding company, or state member bank that the Board annually 
determines are appropriate for use in the company-run stress tests, 
including, but not limited to, baseline, adverse, and severely adverse 
scenarios.
    (q) Severely adverse scenario means a set of conditions that affect 
the U.S. economy or the financial condition of a bank holding company, 
savings and loan holding company, or state member bank and that overall 
are more severe than those associated with the adverse scenario and may 
include trading or other additional components.
    (r) State member bank has the same meaning as in Sec.  208.2(g) of 
the Board's Regulation H (12 CFR 208.2(g)).
    (s) Stress test means a process to assess the potential impact of 
scenarios on the consolidated earnings, losses, and capital of a bank 
holding company, savings and loan holding company, or state member bank 
over the planning horizon, taking into account the current condition, 
risks, exposures, strategies, and activities.
    (t) Stress test cycle means:
    (i) Until September 30, 2015, the period beginning October 1 of a 
calendar year and ending on September 30 of the following calendar 
year, and
    (ii) Beginning October 1, 2015, the period beginning January 1 of a 
calendar year and ending on December 31 of that year.
    (u) Subsidiary has the same meaning as in Sec.  225.2(o) the 
Board's Regulation Y (12 CFR 225.2(o)).


Sec.  252.13  Applicability.

    (a) Scope--(1) Applicability. Except as provided in paragraph (b) 
of this section, this subpart applies to:
    (i) Any bank holding company with average total consolidated assets 
(as defined in Sec.  252.12(d)) of greater than $10 billion but less 
than $50 billion;
    (ii) Any savings and loan holding company with average total 
consolidated assets (as defined in Sec.  252.12(d)) of greater than $10 
billion; and
    (iii) Any state member bank with average total consolidated assets 
(as

[[Page 37436]]

defined in Sec.  252.12(d)) of greater than $10 billion.
    (2) Ongoing applicability. (i) A bank holding company, savings and 
loan holding company, or state member bank (including any successor 
company) that is subject to any requirement in subpart shall remain 
subject to the requirement unless and until its total consolidated 
assets fall below $10 billion for each of four consecutive quarters, as 
reported on the FR Y-9C or Call Report, as applicable and effective on 
the as-of date of the fourth consecutive FR Y-9C or Call Report, as 
applicable.
    (ii) A bank holding company or savings and loan holding company 
that becomes a covered company as defined in subpart F of this part and 
conducts a stress test pursuant to that subpart is not subject to the 
requirements of this subpart.
    (b) Transitional arrangements--(1) Transition periods for bank 
holding companies and state member banks. (i) A bank holding company or 
state member bank that exceeds the asset threshold for the first time 
after October 1, 2014, but on or before March 31 of a given year, must 
comply with the requirements of this subpart beginning on January 1 of 
the following year, unless that time is extended by the Board in 
writing.
    (ii) A bank holding company or state member bank that exceeds the 
asset threshold for the first time after October 1, 2014, and after 
March 31 of a given year must comply with the requirements of this 
subpart beginning on January 1 of the second year following that given 
year, unless that time is extended by the Board in writing.
    (iii) Bank holding companies that rely on SR Letter 01-01. 
Notwithstanding paragraphs (b)(1)(i) or (ii), a bank holding company 
that meets the asset threshold (as defined in Sec.  252.12(c)) and that 
is relying as of July 20, 2015, on Supervision and Regulation Letter SR 
01-01 issued by the Board (as in effect on May 19, 2010) must comply 
with the requirements of this subpart beginning on January 1, 2016, 
unless that time is extended by the Board in writing.
    (2) Transition period for savings and loan holding companies. (i) A 
savings and loan holding company that is subject to minimum regulatory 
capital requirements and exceeds the asset threshold for the first time 
after October 1, 2014, but on or before March 31 of a given year, must 
comply with the requirements of this subpart beginning on January 1 of 
the following year, unless that time is extended by the Board in 
writing.
    (ii) A savings and loan holding company that is subject to minimum 
regulatory capital requirements and exceeds the asset threshold for the 
first time after October 1, 2014, and after March 31 of a given year 
must comply with the requirements of this subpart beginning on January 
1 of the second year following that given year, unless that time is 
extended by the Board in writing.
    (3) Transition periods for companies subject to the advanced 
approaches. Notwithstanding any other requirement in this section:
    (i) A bank holding company, savings and loan holding company, or 
state member bank must use 12 CFR part 225, appendices A and E (as 
applicable), and 12 CFR part 252, subpart D and E, as applicable, to 
estimate its pro forma regulatory capital ratios and its pro forma tier 
1 common ratio for the stress test cycle beginning October 1, 2014, and 
may not use the advanced approaches until January 1, 2016; and
    (ii) Beginning January 1, 2016, a bank holding company, savings and 
loan holding company, or state member bank must use the advanced 
approaches to estimate its pro forma regulatory capital ratios and its 
pro forma tier 1 common ratio for purposes of its stress test under 
Sec.  252.14 if the Board notifies the company before the first day of 
the stress test cycle that the company is required to use the advanced 
approaches to determine its risk-based capital requirements.


Sec.  252.14  Annual stress test.

    (a) General requirements--(1) General. A savings and loan holding 
company, bank holding company, and state member bank must conduct an 
annual stress test in accordance with paragraphs (a)(2) through (3) of 
this section.
    (2) Timing for the stress test cycle beginning October 1, 2014. For 
the stress test cycle beginning October 1, 2014:
    (i) A state member bank that is a covered company subsidiary must 
conduct its stress test by January 5, 2015, based on data as of 
September 30, 2014, unless the time or the as-of date is extended by 
the Board in writing; and
    (ii) A state member bank that is not a covered company subsidiary 
and a bank holding company must conduct its stress test by March 31, 
2015 based on data as of September 30, 2014, unless the time or the as-
of date is extended by the Board in writing.
    (2) Timing for each stress test cycle beginning after October 1, 
2014. For each stress test cycle beginning after October 1, 2014:
    (i) A state member bank that is a covered company subsidiary and a 
savings and loan holding company with average total consolidated assets 
of $50 billion or more must conduct its stress test by April 5 of each 
calendar year based on data as of December 31 of the preceding calendar 
year, unless the time or the as-of date is extended by the Board in 
writing; and
    (ii) A state member bank that is not a covered company subsidiary, 
a bank holding company, and a savings and loan holding company with 
average total consolidated assets of less than $50 billion must conduct 
its stress test by July 31 of each calendar year using financial 
statement data as of December 31 of the preceding calendar year, unless 
the time or the as-of date is extended by the Board in writing.
    (b) Scenarios provided by the Board--(1) In general. In conducting 
a stress test under this section, a bank holding company, savings and 
loan holding company, or state member bank must, at a minimum, use the 
scenarios provided by the Board. Except as provided in paragraphs 
(b)(2) and (3) of this section, the Board will provide a description of 
the scenarios to each bank holding company, savings and loan holding 
company, or state member bank no later than November 15, 2014 (for the 
stress test cycle beginning October 1, 2014) and no later than February 
15 of that calendar year (for each stress test cycle beginning 
thereafter).
    (2) Additional components. (i) The Board may require a bank holding 
company, savings and loan holding company, or state member bank with 
significant trading activity, as determined by the Board and specified 
in the Capital Assessments and Stress Testing report (FR Y-14), to 
include a trading and counterparty component in its adverse and 
severely adverse scenarios in the stress test required by this section. 
The Board may also require a state member bank that is subject to 12 
CFR part 208, appendix E (or, beginning January 1, 2015, 12 CFR 217, 
subpart F) or that is a subsidiary of a bank holding company that is 
subject to either this paragraph or Sec.  252.54(b)(2)(i) to include a 
trading and counterparty component in the state member bank's adverse 
and severely adverse scenarios in the stress test required by this 
section. For the stress test cycle beginning October 1, 2014, the data 
used in this component must be as of a date between October 1 and 
December 1 of 2014 selected by the Board, and the Board will 
communicate the as-of date and a description of the component to the 
company no later than December 1 of the calendar year. For each stress 
test cycle beginning thereafter, the data used in this component must 
be as of a date between January 1 and March 1 of that

[[Page 37437]]

calendar year selected by the Board, and the Board will communicate the 
as-of date and a description of the component to the company no later 
than March 1 of that calendar year.
    (ii) The Board may require a bank holding company, savings and loan 
holding company, or state member bank to include one or more additional 
components in its adverse and severely adverse scenarios in the stress 
test required by this section based on the company's financial 
condition, size, complexity, risk profile, scope of operations, or 
activities, or risks to the U.S. economy.
    (3) Additional scenarios. The Board may require a bank holding 
company, savings and loan holding company, or state member bank to 
include one or more additional scenarios in the stress test required by 
this section based on the company's financial condition, size, 
complexity, risk profile, scope of operations, or activities, or risks 
to the U.S. economy.
    (4) Notice and response--(i) Notification of additional component. 
If the Board requires a bank holding company, savings and loan holding 
company, or state member bank to include one or more additional 
components in its adverse and severely adverse scenarios under 
paragraph (b)(2) of this section or to use one or more additional 
scenarios under paragraph (b)(3) of this section, the Board will notify 
the company in writing by September 30, 2014 (for the stress test cycle 
beginning October 1, 2014) and by December 31 (for each stress test 
cycle beginning thereafter).
    (ii) Request for reconsideration and Board response. Within 14 
calendar days of receipt of a notification under this paragraph, the 
bank holding company, savings and loan holding company, or state member 
bank may request in writing that the Board reconsider the requirement 
that the company include the additional component(s) or additional 
scenario(s), including an explanation as to why the reconsideration 
should be granted. The Board will respond in writing within 14 calendar 
days of receipt of the company's request.
    (iii) Description of component. The Board will provide the bank 
holding company, savings and loan holding company, or state member bank 
with a description of any additional component(s) or additional 
scenario(s) by December 1, 2014 (for the stress test cycle beginning 
October 1, 2014) and by March 1 (for each stress test cycle beginning 
thereafter).


Sec.  252.15  Methodologies and practices.

    (a) Potential impact on capital. In conducting a stress test under 
Sec.  252.14, for each quarter of the planning horizon, a bank holding 
company, savings and loan holding company, or state member bank must 
estimate the following for each scenario required to be used:
    (1) Losses, pre-provision net revenue, provision for loan and lease 
losses, and net income; and
    (2) The potential impact on pro forma regulatory capital levels and 
pro forma capital ratios (including regulatory capital ratios and any 
other capital ratios specified by the Board), incorporating the effects 
of any capital actions over the planning horizon and maintenance of an 
allowance for loan losses appropriate for credit exposures throughout 
the planning horizon.
    (b) Assumptions regarding capital actions. In conducting a stress 
test under Sec.  252.14, a bank holding company or savings and loan 
holding company is required to make the following assumptions regarding 
its capital actions over the planning horizon:
    (1) For the first quarter of the planning horizon, the bank holding 
company or savings and loan holding company must take into account its 
actual capital actions as of the end of that quarter; and
    (2) For each of the second through ninth quarters of the planning 
horizon, the bank holding company or savings and loan holding company 
must include in the projections of capital:
    (i) Common stock dividends equal to the quarterly average dollar 
amount of common stock dividends that the company paid in the previous 
year (that is, the first quarter of the planning horizon and the 
preceding three calendar quarters);
    (ii) Payments on any other instrument that is eligible for 
inclusion in the numerator of a regulatory capital ratio equal to the 
stated dividend, interest, or principal due on such instrument during 
the quarter;
    (iii) An assumption of no redemption or repurchase of any capital 
instrument that is eligible for inclusion in the numerator of a 
regulatory capital ratio; and
    (iv) An assumption of no issuances of common stock or preferred 
stock, except for issuances related to expensed employee compensation.
    (c) Controls and oversight of stress testing processes--(1) In 
general. The senior management of a bank holding company, savings and 
loan holding company, or state member bank must establish and maintain 
a system of controls, oversight, and documentation, including policies 
and procedures, that are designed to ensure that its stress testing 
processes are effective in meeting the requirements in this subpart. 
These policies and procedures must, at a minimum, describe the 
company's stress testing practices and methodologies, and processes for 
validating and updating the company's stress test practices and 
methodologies consistent with applicable laws, regulations, and 
supervisory guidance.
    (2) Oversight of stress testing processes. The board of directors, 
or a committee thereof, of a bank holding company, savings and loan 
holding company, or state member bank must review and approve the 
policies and procedures of the stress testing processes as frequently 
as economic conditions or the condition of the company may warrant, but 
no less than annually. The board of directors and senior management of 
the bank holding company, savings and loan holding company, or state 
member bank must receive a summary of the results of the stress test 
conducted under this section.
    (3) Role of stress testing results. The board of directors and 
senior management of a bank holding company, savings and loan holding 
company, or state member bank must consider the results of the stress 
test in the normal course of business, including but not limited to, 
the banking organization's capital planning, assessment of capital 
adequacy, and risk management practices.


Sec.  252.16  Reports of stress test results.

    (a) Reports to the Board of stress test results--(1) General. A 
savings and loan holding company, bank holding company, and state 
member bank must report the results of the stress test to the Board in 
the manner and form prescribed by the Board, in accordance with 
paragraphs (a)(2) and (3) of this section.
    (2) Timing for the stress test cycle beginning October 1, 2014. For 
the stress test cycle beginning October 1, 2014:
    (i) A state member bank that is a covered company subsidiary must 
report the results of its stress test to the Board by January 5, 2015, 
unless that time is extended by the Board in writing; and
    (ii) A state member bank that is not a covered company subsidiary 
and a bank holding company must report the results of its stress test 
to the Board by March 31, 2015, unless that time is extended by the 
Board in writing.
    (3) Timing for each stress test cycle beginning after October 1, 
2014. For each stress test cycle beginning after October 1, 2014:

[[Page 37438]]

    (i) A state member bank that is a covered company subsidiary and a 
savings and loan holding company that has average total consolidated 
assets of $50 billion or more must report the results of the stress 
test to the Board by April 5, unless that time is extended by the Board 
in writing; and
    (ii) A state member bank that is not a covered company subsidiary, 
a bank holding company, and a savings and loan holding company with 
average total consolidated assets of less than $50 billion must report 
the results of the stress test to the Board by July 31, unless that 
time is extended by the Board in writing.
    (b) Contents of reports. The report required under paragraph (a) of 
this section must include the following information for the baseline 
scenario, adverse scenario, severely adverse scenario, and any other 
scenario required under Sec.  252.14(b)(3):
    (1) A description of the types of risks being included in the 
stress test;
    (2) A summary description of the methodologies used in the stress 
test; and
    (3) For each quarter of the planning horizon, estimates of 
aggregate losses, pre-provision net revenue, provision for loan and 
lease losses, net income, and regulatory capital ratios;
    (4) An explanation of the most significant causes for the changes 
in regulatory capital ratios; and
    (5) Any other information required by the Board.
    (c) Confidential treatment of information submitted. The 
confidentiality of information submitted to the Board under this 
subpart and related materials shall be determined in accordance with 
applicable exemptions under the Freedom of Information Act (5 U.S.C. 
552(b)) and the Board's Rules Regarding Availability of Information (12 
CFR part 261).


Sec.  252.17  Disclosure of stress test results.

    (a) Public disclosure of results--(1) General. (i) A bank holding 
company, savings and loan holding company, and state member bank must 
publicly disclose a summary of the results of the stress test required 
under this subpart.
    (2) Timing for the stress test cycle beginning October 1, 2014. For 
the stress test cycle beginning October 1, 2014:
    (i) A state member bank that is a covered company subsidiary must 
publicly disclose a summary of the results of the stress test within 15 
days after the Board discloses the results of its supervisory stress 
test of the covered company pursuant to Sec.  252.46(c), unless that 
time is extended by the Board in writing; and
    (ii) A state member bank that is not a covered company subsidiary 
and a bank holding company must publicly disclose a summary of the 
results of the stress test in the period beginning June 15 and ending 
June 30, 2015, unless that time is extended by the Board in writing.
    (3) Timing for each stress test cycle beginning after October 1, 
2014. For each stress test cycle beginning after October 1, 2014:
    (i) A state member bank that is a covered company subsidiary must 
publicly disclose a summary of the results of the stress test within 15 
days after the Board discloses the results of its supervisory stress 
test of the covered company pursuant to Sec.  252.46(c), unless that 
time is extended by the Board in writing;
    (ii) A savings and loan holding company with average total 
consolidated assets of $50 billion or more must publicly disclose a 
summary of the results of the stress test in the period beginning June 
15 and ending June 30, unless that time is extended by the Board in 
writing; and
    (iii) A state member bank that is not a covered company subsidiary, 
a bank holding company, and a savings and loan holding company with 
average total consolidated assets of less than $50 billion must 
publicly disclose a summary of the results of the stress test in the 
period beginning October 15 and ending October 31, unless that time is 
extended by the Board in writing.
    (3) Disclosure method. The summary required under this section may 
be disclosed on the Web site of a bank holding company, savings and 
loan holding company, or state member bank, or in any other forum that 
is reasonably accessible to the public.
    (b) Summary of results--(1) Bank holding companies and savings and 
loan holding companies. The summary of the results of a bank holding 
company or savings and loan holding company must, at a minimum, contain 
the following information regarding the severely adverse scenario:
    (i) A description of the types of risks included in the stress 
test;
    (ii) A summary description of the methodologies used in the stress 
test;
    (iii) Estimates of--
    (A) Aggregate losses;
    (B) Pre-provision net revenue;
    (C) Provision for loan and lease losses;
    (D) Net income; and
    (E) Pro forma regulatory capital ratios and any other capital 
ratios specified by the Board;
    (iv) An explanation of the most significant causes for the changes 
in regulatory capital ratios; and
    (v) With respect to any depository institution subsidiary that is 
subject to stress testing requirements pursuant to 12 U.S.C. 
5365(i)(2), as implemented by this subpart, 12 CFR part 46 (OCC), or 12 
CFR part 325, subpart C (FDIC), changes over the planning horizon in 
regulatory capital ratios and any other capital ratios specified by the 
Board and an explanation of the most significant causes for the changes 
in regulatory capital ratios.
    (2) State member banks that are subsidiaries of bank holding 
companies. A state member bank that is a subsidiary of a bank holding 
company satisfies the public disclosure requirements under this subpart 
if the bank holding company publicly discloses summary results of its 
stress test pursuant to this section or Sec.  252.58, unless the Board 
determines that the disclosures at the holding company level do not 
adequately capture the potential impact of the scenarios on the capital 
of the state member bank and requires the state member bank to make 
public disclosures.
    (3) State member banks that are not subsidiaries of bank holding 
companies. A state member bank that is not a subsidiary of a bank 
holding company or that is required to make disclosures under paragraph 
(b)(2) of this section must publicly disclose, at a minimum, the 
following information regarding the severely adverse scenario:
    (i) A description of the types of risks being included in the 
stress test;
    (ii) A summary description of the methodologies used in the stress 
test;
    (iii) Estimates of--
    (A) Aggregate losses;
    (B) Pre-provision net revenue
    (C) Provision for loan and lease losses;
    (D) Net income; and
    (E) Pro forma regulatory capital ratios and any other capital 
ratios specified by the Board; and
    (iv) An explanation of the most significant causes for the changes 
in regulatory capital ratios.
    (c) Content of results. (1) The disclosure of aggregate losses, 
pre-provision net revenue, provision for loan and lease losses, and net 
income that is required under paragraph (b) of this section must be on 
a cumulative basis over the planning horizon.
    (2) The disclosure of pro forma regulatory capital ratios and any 
other capital ratios specified by the Board that is required under 
paragraph (b) of this section must include the beginning value, ending 
value and minimum value of each ratio over the planning horizon.
    6. Subpart E is revised to read as follows:

[[Page 37439]]

Subpart E--Supervisory Stress Test Requirements for U.S. Bank 
Holding Companies With $50 Billion or More in Total Consolidated 
Assets and Nonbank Financial Companies Supervised by the Board.

Sec.
252.40 [Reserved]
252.41 Authority and purpose.
252.42 Definitions.
252.43 Applicability.
252.44 Annual analysis conducted by the Board.
252.45 Data and information required to be submitted in support of 
the Board's analyses.
252.46 Review of the Board's analysis; publication of summary 
results.
252.47 Corporate use of stress test results.

Sec.  252.40  [Reserved]


Sec.  252.41  Authority and purpose.

    (a) Authority. 12 U.S.C. 321-338a, 1467a(g), 1818, 1831p-1, 
1844(b), 1844(c), 5361, 5365, 5366.
    (b) Purpose. This subpart implements section 165(i)(1) of the Dodd-
Frank Act (12 U.S.C. 5365(i)(1)), which requires the Board to conduct 
annual analyses of nonbank financial companies supervised by the Board 
and bank holding companies with $50 billion or more in total 
consolidated assets to evaluate whether such companies have the 
capital, on a total consolidated basis, necessary to absorb losses as a 
result of adverse economic conditions.


Sec.  252.42  Definitions.

    For purposes of this subpart F, the following definitions apply:
    (a) Advanced approaches means the risk-weighted assets calculation 
methodologies at 12 CFR part 217, subpart E, as applicable, and any 
successor regulation.
    (b) Adverse scenario means a set of conditions that affect the U.S. 
economy or the financial condition of a covered company that are more 
adverse than those associated with the baseline scenario and may 
include trading or other additional components.
    (c) Average total consolidated assets means the average of the 
total consolidated assets as reported by a bank holding company on its 
Consolidated Financial Statements for Bank Holding Companies (FR Y-9C) 
for the four most recent consecutive quarters. If the bank holding 
company has not filed the FR Y-9C for each of the four most recent 
consecutive quarters, average total consolidated assets means the 
average of the company's total consolidated assets, as reported on the 
company's FR Y-9C, for the most recent quarter or consecutive quarters. 
Average total consolidated assets are measured on the as-of date of the 
most recent FR Y-9C used in the calculation of the average.
    (d) Bank holding company has the same meaning as in Sec.  225.2(c) 
of the Board's Regulation Y (12 CFR 225.2(c)).
    (e) Baseline scenario means a set of conditions that affect the 
U.S. economy or the financial condition of a covered company and that 
reflect the consensus views of the economic and financial outlook.
    (f) Covered company means:
    (1) A bank holding company (other than a foreign banking 
organization) with average total consolidated assets of $50 billion or 
more;
    (2) A U.S. intermediate holding company subject to this section 
pursuant to Sec.  252.153; and
    (3) A nonbank financial company supervised by the Board.
    (g) Depository institution has the same meaning as in section 3 of 
the Federal Deposit Insurance Act (12 U.S.C. 1813(c)).
    (h) Foreign banking organization has the same meaning as in Sec.  
211.21(o) of the Board's Regulation K (12 CFR 211.21(o)).
    (i) Nonbank financial company supervised by the Board means a 
nonbank financial company that the Financial Stability Oversight 
Council has determined under section 113 of the Dodd-Frank Act (12 
U.S.C. 5323) shall be supervised by the Board and for which such 
determination is still in effect.
    (j) Planning horizon means the period of at least nine consecutive 
quarters, beginning on the first day of a stress test cycle over which 
the relevant projections extend.
    (k) Pre-provision net revenue means the sum of net interest income 
and non-interest income less expenses before adjusting for loss 
provisions.
    (l) Provision for loan and lease losses means the provision for 
loan and lease losses as reported by the covered company on the FR Y-
9C.
    (m) Regulatory capital ratio means a capital ratio for which the 
Board established minimum requirements for the company by regulation or 
order, including, as applicable, the company's tier 1 and supplementary 
leverage ratios and common equity tier 1, tier 1, and total risk-based 
capital ratios as calculated under appendices A, D, and E to this part 
(12 CFR part 225) and 12 CFR part 217, as applicable, including the 
transition provisions at 12 CFR 217.1(f)(4) and 12 CFR 217.300, or any 
successor regulation.
    (n) Scenarios are those sets of conditions that affect the U.S. 
economy or the financial condition of a covered company that the Board 
annually determines are appropriate for use in the supervisory stress 
tests, including, but not limited to, baseline, adverse, and severely 
adverse scenarios.
    (o) Severely adverse scenario means a set of conditions that affect 
the U.S. economy or the financial condition of a covered company and 
that overall are more severe than those associated with the adverse 
scenario and may include trading or other additional components.
    (p) Stress test cycle means:
    (i) Until September 30, 2015, the period beginning October 1 of a 
calendar year and ending on September 30 of the following calendar 
year, and
    (ii) Beginning October 1, 2015, the period beginning January 1 of a 
calendar year and ending on December 31 of that year.
    (q) Subsidiary has the same meaning as in Sec.  225.2(o) the 
Board's Regulation Y (12 CFR 225.2).
    (r) Tier 1 common ratio has the same meaning as in the Board's 
Regulation Y (12 CFR 225.8).


Sec.  252.43  Applicability.

    (a) Scope--(1) Applicability. Except as provided in paragraph (b) 
of this section, this subpart applies to any covered company, which 
includes:
    (i) Any bank holding company with average total consolidated assets 
(as defined in Sec.  252.42(c)) of $50 billion or more;
    (ii) Any U.S. intermediate holding company subject to this section 
pursuant to Sec.  252.153; and
    (iii) Any nonbank financial company supervised by the Board that is 
made subject to this section pursuant to a rule or order of the Board.
    (2) Ongoing applicability. A bank holding company (including any 
successor company) that is subject to any requirement in subpart shall 
remain subject to the requirement unless and until its total 
consolidated assets fall below $50 billion for each of four consecutive 
quarters, as reported on the FR Y-9C and effective on the as-of date of 
the fourth consecutive FR Y-9C.
    (b) Transitional arrangements--(1) Transition periods for bank 
holding companies that become covered companies after October 1, 2014. 
(i) A bank holding company that becomes a covered company after October 
1, 2014, but on or before March 31 of a given year must comply with the 
requirements of this subpart beginning on January 1 of the following 
year, unless that time is extended by the Board in writing.
    (ii) A bank holding company that becomes a covered company after 
October 1, 2014, and after March 31 of

[[Page 37440]]

a given year must comply with the requirements of this subpart 
beginning on January 1 of the second year following that given year, 
unless that time is extended by the Board in writing.
    (2) Bank holding companies that rely on SR Letter 01-01. A covered 
company that is relying as of July 20, 2015, on Supervision and 
Regulation Letter SR 01-01 issued by the Board (as in effect on May 19, 
2010) must comply with the requirements of this subpart beginning 
January 1, 2016, unless that time is extended by the Board in writing.
    (3) Nonbank financial companies supervised by the Board. (i) The 
Board will apply this subpart to a nonbank financial company by rule or 
order.
    (ii) If the Board issues the rule or order described in paragraph 
(b)(3)(i) of this section on or before March 31 of a given year, the 
nonbank financial company supervised by the Board will be required to 
comply with the requirements of this subpart on January 1 of the 
following year, unless that time is accelerated or extended by the 
Board in writing.
    (iii) If the Board issues the rule or order described in paragraph 
(b)(3)(i) of this section after March 31 of a given year, the nonbank 
financial company supervised by the Board will be required to comply 
with the requirements of this subpart on January 1 of the second year 
following that given year, unless that time is accelerated or extended 
by the Board in writing.
    (c) Transition periods for covered companies subject to the 
advanced approaches. Notwithstanding any other requirement in this 
section, for a given stress test cycle:
    (1) The Board will use 12 CFR part 225, appendices A and E (as 
applicable), and 12 CFR part 252, subpart D and E, as applicable, to 
estimate a covered company's pro forma regulatory capital ratios and 
its pro forma tier 1 common ratio for the stress test cycle beginning 
October 1, 2014 and will not use the advanced approaches until January 
1, 2016; and
    (2) Beginning January 1, 2016, the Board will use the advanced 
approaches to estimate a covered company's pro forma regulatory capital 
ratios and pro forma tier 1 common ratio if the Board notified the 
covered company before the first day of the stress test cycle that the 
covered company is required to use the advanced approaches to determine 
its risk-based capital requirements.


Sec.  252.44  Annual analysis conducted by the Board.

    (a) In general. (1) On an annual basis, the Board will conduct an 
analysis of each covered company's capital, on a total consolidated 
basis, taking into account all relevant exposures and activities of 
that covered company, to evaluate the ability of the covered company to 
absorb losses in specified economic and financial conditions.
    (2) The analysis will include an assessment of the projected 
losses, net income, and pro forma capital levels and regulatory capital 
ratios, tier 1 common ratio, and other capital ratios for the covered 
company and use such analytical techniques that the Board determines 
are appropriate to identify, measure, and monitor risks of the covered 
company that may affect the financial stability of the United States.
    (3) In conducting the analyses, the Board will coordinate with the 
appropriate primary financial regulatory agencies and the Federal 
Insurance Office, as appropriate.
    (b) Economic and financial scenarios related to the Board's 
analysis. The Board will conduct its analysis under this section using 
a minimum of three different scenarios, including a baseline scenario, 
adverse scenario, and severely adverse scenario. For the stress test 
cycle beginning October 1, 2014, the Board will notify covered 
companies of the scenarios that the Board will apply to conduct the 
analysis for each stress test cycle by no later than November 15, 2014, 
except with respect to trading or any other components of the scenarios 
and any additional scenarios that the Board will apply to conduct the 
analysis, which will be communicated by no later than December 1, 2014. 
For each stress test cycle beginning thereafter, the Board will notify 
covered companies of the scenarios that the Board will apply to conduct 
the analysis for each stress test cycle by no later than February 15 of 
each year, except with respect to trading or any other components of 
the scenarios and any additional scenarios that the Board will apply to 
conduct the analysis, which will be communicated by no later than March 
1 of that year.


Sec.  252.45  Data and information required to be submitted in support 
of the Board's analyses.

    (a) Regular submissions. Each covered company must submit to the 
Board such data, on a consolidated basis, that the Board determines is 
necessary in order for the Board to derive the relevant pro forma 
estimates of the covered company over the planning horizon under the 
scenarios described in Sec.  252.44(b).
    (b) Additional submissions required by the Board. The Board may 
require a covered company to submit any other information on a 
consolidated basis that the Board deems necessary in order to:
    (1) Ensure that the Board has sufficient information to conduct its 
analysis under this subpart; and
    (2) Project a company's pre-provision net revenue, losses, 
provision for loan and lease losses, and net income; and, pro forma 
capital levels, regulatory capital ratios, tier 1 common ratio, and any 
other capital ratio specified by the Board under the scenarios 
described in Sec.  252.44(b).
    (c) Confidential treatment of information submitted. The 
confidentiality of information submitted to the Board under this 
subpart and related materials shall be determined in accordance with 
the Freedom of Information Act (5 U.S.C. 552(b)) and the Board's Rules 
Regarding Availability of Information (12 CFR part 261).


Sec.  252.46  Review of the Board's analysis; publication of summary 
results.

    (a) Review of results. Based on the results of the analysis 
conducted under this subpart, the Board will conduct an evaluation to 
determine whether the covered company has the capital, on a total 
consolidated basis, necessary to absorb losses and continue its 
operation by maintaining ready access to funding, meeting its 
obligations to creditors and other counterparties, and continuing to 
serve as a credit intermediary under baseline, adverse and severely 
adverse scenarios, and any additional scenarios.
    (b) Publication of results by the Board. (1) The Board will 
publicly disclose a summary of the results of the Board's analyses of a 
covered company by March 31, 2015 (for the stress test cycle beginning 
October 1, 2014) and by June 30 (for each stress test cycle beginning 
thereafter).
    (2) The Board will notify companies of the date on which it expects 
to publicly disclose a summary of the Board's analyses pursuant to 
paragraph (b)(1) of this section at least 14 calendar days prior to the 
expected disclosure date.


Sec.  252.47  Corporate use of stress test results.

    (a) In general. The board of directors and senior management of 
each covered company must consider the results of the analysis 
conducted by the Board under this subpart, as appropriate:
    (1) As part of the covered company's capital plan and capital 
planning process, including when making changes to the covered 
company's capital structure (including the level and composition of 
capital);
    (2) When assessing the covered company's exposures, concentrations, 
and risk positions; and

[[Page 37441]]

    (3) In the development or implementation of any plans of the 
covered company for recovery or resolution.
    (b) Resolution plan updates. Each covered company must update its 
resolution plan as the Board determines appropriate, based on the 
results of the Board's analyses of the covered company under this 
subpart.
0
7. Subpart F is revised to read as follows:

Subpart F--Company-Run Stress Test Requirements for U.S. Bank Holding 
Companies With $50 Billion or More in Total Consolidated Assets and 
Nonbank Financial Companies Supervised by the Board.
Sec.
252.50 [Reserved]
252.51 Authority and purpose.
252.52 Definitions.
252.53 Applicability.
252.54 Annual stress test.
252.55 Mid-cycle stress test.
252.56 Methodologies and practices.
252.57 Reports of stress test results.
252.58 Disclosure of stress test results.

Sec.  252.50  [Reserved]


Sec.  252.51  Authority and purpose.

    (a) Authority. 12 U.S.C. 321-338a, 1467a(g), 1818, 1831p-1, 
1844(b), 1844(c), 5361, 5365, 5366.
    (b) Purpose. This subpart implements section 165(i)(2) of the Dodd-
Frank Act (12 U.S.C. 5365(i)(2)), which requires a covered company to 
conduct annual and semi-annual stress tests. This subpart also 
establishes definitions of stress test and related terms, methodologies 
for conducting stress tests, and reporting and disclosure requirements.


Sec.  252.52  Definitions.

    For purposes of this subpart, the following definitions apply:
    (a) Advanced approaches means the risk-weighted assets calculation 
methodologies at 12 CFR part 217, subpart E, as applicable, and any 
successor regulation.
    (b) Adverse scenario means a set of conditions that affect the U.S. 
economy or the financial condition of a covered company that are more 
adverse than those associated with the baseline scenario and may 
include trading or other additional components.
    (c) Average total consolidated assets means the average of the 
total consolidated assets as reported by a bank holding company on its 
Consolidated Financial Statements for Bank Holding Companies (FR Y-9C) 
for the four most recent consecutive quarters. If the bank holding 
company has not filed the FR Y-9C for each of the four most recent 
consecutive quarters, average total consolidated assets means the 
average of the company's total consolidated assets, as reported on the 
company's FR Y-9C, for the most recent quarter or consecutive quarters. 
Average total consolidated assets are measured on the as-of date of the 
most recent FR Y-9C used in the calculation of the average.
    (d) Bank holding company has the same meaning as in Sec.  225.2(c) 
of the Board's Regulation Y (12 CFR 225.2(c)).
    (e) Baseline scenario means a set of conditions that affect the 
U.S. economy or the financial condition of a covered company and that 
reflect the consensus views of the economic and financial outlook.
    (f) Capital action has the same meaning as in Sec.  225.8(c)(2) of 
the Board's Regulation Y (12 CFR 225.8(c)(2)).
    (g) Covered company means:
    (1) A bank holding company (other than a foreign banking 
organization) with average total consolidated assets of $50 billion or 
more;
    (2) A U.S. intermediate holding company subject to this section 
pursuant to Sec.  252.153; and
    (3) A nonbank financial company supervised by the Board.
    (h) Depository institution has the same meaning as in section 3 of 
the Federal Deposit Insurance Act (12 U.S.C. 1813(c)).
    (i) Foreign banking organization has the same meaning as in Sec.  
211.21(o) of the Board's Regulation K (12 CFR 211.21(o)).
    (j) Nonbank financial company supervised by the Board means a 
nonbank financial company that the Financial Stability Oversight 
Council has determined under section 113 of the Dodd-Frank Act (12 
U.S.C. 5323) shall be supervised by the Board and for which such 
determination is still in effect.
    (k) Planning horizon means the period of at least nine consecutive 
quarters, beginning on the first day of a stress test cycle (on October 
1 or April 1, as appropriate) over which the relevant projections 
extend.
    (l) Pre-provision net revenue means the sum of net interest income 
and non-interest income less expenses before adjusting for loss 
provisions.
    (m) Provision for loan and lease losses means the provision for 
loan and lease losses as reported by the covered company on the FR Y-
9C.
    (n) Regulatory capital ratio means a capital ratio for which the 
Board established minimum requirements for the company by regulation or 
order, including, as applicable, the company's tier 1 and supplementary 
leverage ratios and common equity tier 1, tier 1, and total risk-based 
capital ratios as calculated under appendices A, D, and E to this part 
(12 CFR part 225) and 12 CFR part 217, as applicable, including the 
transition provisions at 12 CFR 217.1(f)(4) and 12 CFR 217.300, or any 
successor regulation.
    (o) Scenarios are those sets of conditions that affect the U.S. 
economy or the financial condition of a covered company that the Board, 
or with respect to the mid-cycle stress test required under Sec.  
252.55, the covered company, annually determines are appropriate for 
use in the company-run stress tests, including, but not limited to, 
baseline, adverse, and severely adverse scenarios.
    (p) Severely adverse scenario means a set of conditions that affect 
the U.S. economy or the financial condition of a covered company and 
that overall are more severe than those associated with the adverse 
scenario and may include trading or other additional components.
    (q) Stress test means a process to assess the potential impact of 
scenarios on the consolidated earnings, losses, and capital of a 
covered company over the planning horizon, taking into account its 
current condition, risks, exposures, strategies, and activities.
    (r) Stress test cycle means:
    (i) Until September 30, 2015, the period beginning October 1 of a 
calendar year and ending on September 30 of the following calendar 
year, and
    (ii) Beginning October 1, 2015, the period beginning January 1 of a 
calendar year and ending on December 31 of that year.
    (s) Subsidiary has the same meaning as in Sec.  225.2(o) the 
Board's Regulation Y (12 CFR 225.2).
    (t) Tier 1 common ratio has the same meaning as in Sec.  225.8 of 
the Board's Regulation Y (12 CFR 225.8).


Sec.  252.53  Applicability.

    (a) Scope--(1) Applicability. Except as provided in paragraph (b) 
of this section, this subpart applies to any covered company, which 
includes:
    (i) Any bank holding company with average total consolidated assets 
(as defined in Sec.  252.42(c)) of $50 billion or more;
    (ii) Any U.S. intermediate holding company subject to this section 
pursuant to Sec.  252.153; and
    (iii) Any nonbank financial company supervised by the Board that is 
made subject to this section pursuant to a rule or order of the Board.
    (2) Ongoing applicability. A bank holding company (including any 
successor company) that is subject to

[[Page 37442]]

any requirement in subpart shall remain subject to the requirement 
unless and until its total consolidated assets fall below $50 billion 
for each of four consecutive quarters, as reported on the FR Y-9C and 
effective on the as-of date of the fourth consecutive FR Y-9C.
    (b) Transitional arrangements--(1) Transition periods for bank 
holding companies that become covered companies after October 1, 2014. 
(i) A bank holding company that becomes a covered company after October 
1, 2014, but on or before March 31 of a given year must comply with the 
requirements of this subpart beginning on January 1 of the following 
year, unless that time is extended by the Board in writing.
    (ii) A bank holding company that becomes a covered company after 
October 1, 2014, and after March 31 of a given year must comply with 
the requirements of this subpart beginning on January 1 of the second 
year following that given year, unless that time is extended by the 
Board in writing.
    (2) Bank holding companies that rely on SR Letter 01-01. A covered 
company that is relying as of July 20, 2015, on Supervision and 
Regulation Letter SR 01-01 issued by the Board (as in effect on May 19, 
2010) must comply with the requirements of this subpart beginning 
January 1, 2016, unless that time is extended by the Board in writing.
    (3) Nonbank financial companies supervised by the Board. (i) The 
Board will apply this subpart to a nonbank financial company supervised 
by the Board by rule or order.
    (ii) If the Board issues the rule or order described in paragraph 
(b)(3)(i) of this section on or before March 31 of a given year, the 
nonbank financial company supervised by the Board will be required to 
comply with the requirements of this subpart on January 1 of the 
following year, unless that time is accelerated or extended by the 
Board in writing.
    (iii) If the Board issues the rule or order described in paragraph 
(b)(3)(i) of this section after March 31 of a given year, the nonbank 
financial company supervised by the Board will be required to comply 
with the requirements of this subpart on January 1 of the second year 
following that given year, unless that time is accelerated or extended 
by the Board in writing.
    (3) Transition periods for covered companies subject to the 
advanced approaches. Notwithstanding any other requirement in this 
section:
    (i) A covered company must use 12 CFR part 225, appendices A and E 
(as applicable), and 12 CFR part 252, subpart D and E, as applicable, 
to estimate its pro forma regulatory capital ratios and its pro forma 
tier 1 common ratio for the stress test cycle beginning October 1, 
2014, and may not use the advanced approaches until January 1, 2016; 
and
    (ii) Beginning January 1, 2016, a covered company must use the 
advanced approaches to estimate its pro forma regulatory capital ratios 
and its pro forma tier 1 common ratio for purposes of its stress test 
under Sec.  252.54 if the Board notifies the company before the first 
day of the stress test cycle that the company is required to use the 
advanced approaches to determine its risk-based capital requirements.


Sec.  252.54  Annual stress test.

    (a) In general. A covered company must conduct an annual stress 
test. For the stress test cycle beginning October 1, 2014, the stress 
test must be conducted by January 5, 2015, based on data as of 
September 30, 2014, unless the time or the as-of date is extended by 
the Board in writing. For each stress test cycle beginning thereafter, 
the stress test must be conducted by April 5 of each calendar year 
based on data as of December 31 of the preceding calendar year, unless 
the time or the as-of date is extended by the Board in writing.
    (b) Scenarios provided by the Board--(1) In general. In conducting 
a stress test under this section, a covered company must, at a minimum, 
use the scenarios provided by the Board. Except as provided in 
paragraphs (b)(2) and (3) of this section, for the stress test cycle 
beginning October 1, 2014, the Board will provide a description of the 
scenarios to each covered company no later than November 15, 2014. 
Except as provided in paragraphs (b)(2) and (3) of this section, for 
each stress test cycle beginning thereafter, the Board will provide a 
description of the scenarios to each covered company no later than 
February 15 of that calendar year.
    (2) Additional components. (i) The Board may require a covered 
company with significant trading activity, as determined by the Board 
and specified in the Capital Assessments and Stress Testing report (FR 
Y-14), to include a trading and counterparty component in its adverse 
and severely adverse scenarios in the stress test required by this 
section. For the stress test cycle beginning October 1, 2014, the data 
used in this component must be as of a date between October 1 and 
December 1, 2014, as selected by the Board, and the Board will 
communicate the as-of date and a description of the component to the 
company no later than December 1, 2014. For the stress test cycle 
beginning January 1, 2016, and for each stress test cycle beginning 
thereafter, the data used in this component must be as of a date 
between January 1 and March 1 of that calendar year selected by the 
Board, and the Board will communicate the as-of date and a description 
of the component to the company no later than March 1 of the relevant 
calendar year.
    (ii) The Board may require a covered company to include one or more 
additional components in its adverse and severely adverse scenarios in 
the stress test required by this section based on the company's 
financial condition, size, complexity, risk profile, scope of 
operations, or activities, or risks to the U.S. economy.
    (3) Additional scenarios. The Board may require a covered company 
to use one or more additional scenarios in the stress test required by 
this section based on the company's financial condition, size, 
complexity, risk profile, scope of operations, or activities, or risks 
to the U.S. economy.
    (4) Notice and response--(i) Notification of additional component. 
If the Board requires a covered company to include one or more 
additional components in its adverse and severely adverse scenarios 
under paragraph (b)(2) of this section or to use one or more additional 
scenarios under paragraph (b)(3) of this section, the Board will notify 
the company in writing. For the stress test cycle beginning October 1, 
2014, the Board will provide such notification no later than September 
30, 2014, and for each stress test cycle beginning thereafter, the 
Board will provide such notification no later than December 31 of the 
preceding calendar year. The notification will include a general 
description of the additional component(s) or additional scenario(s) 
and the basis for requiring the company to include the additional 
component(s) or additional scenario(s).
    (ii) Request for reconsideration and Board response. Within 14 
calendar days of receipt of a notification under this paragraph, the 
covered company may request in writing that the Board reconsider the 
requirement that the company include the additional component(s) or 
additional scenario(s), including an explanation as to why the 
reconsideration should be granted.
    (iii) Description of component. The Board will respond in writing 
within 14 calendar days of receipt of the company's request. The Board 
will provide the covered company with a description of any additional 
component(s) or additional scenario(s) by December 1, 2014 (for the 
stress test cycle beginning October 1, 2014) and by March 1 (for each 
stress test cycle beginning thereafter).

[[Page 37443]]

Sec.  252.55  Mid-cycle stress test.

    (a) Mid-cycle stress test requirement. In addition to the stress 
test required under Sec.  252.54, a covered company must conduct a mid-
cycle stress test. For the stress test cycle beginning October 1, 2014, 
the mid-cycle stress test must be conducted by July 5 based on data as 
of March 31 of that calendar year, unless the time or the as-of date is 
extended by the Board in writing. For each stress test cycle beginning 
thereafter, the stress test must be conducted by September 30 of each 
calendar year based on data as of June 30 of that calendar year, unless 
the time or the as-of date is extended by the Board in writing.
    (b) Scenarios related to mid-cycle stress tests--(1) In general. A 
covered company must develop and employ a minimum of three scenarios, 
including a baseline scenario, adverse scenario, and severely adverse 
scenario, that are appropriate for its own risk profile and operations, 
in conducting the stress test required by this section.
    (2) Additional components. The Board may require a covered company 
to include one or more additional components in its adverse and 
severely adverse scenarios in the stress test required by this section 
based on the company's financial condition, size, complexity, risk 
profile, scope of operations, or activities, or risks to the U.S. 
economy.
    (3) Additional scenarios. The Board may require a covered company 
to use one or more additional scenarios in the stress test required by 
this section based on the company's financial condition, size, 
complexity, risk profile, scope of operations, or activities, or risks 
to the U.S. economy.
    (4) Notice and response--(i) Notification of additional component. 
If the Board requires a covered company to include one or more 
additional components in its adverse and severely adverse scenarios 
under paragraph (b)(2) of this section or one or more additional 
scenarios under paragraph (b)(3) of this section, the Board will notify 
the company in writing. For the stress test cycle beginning October 1, 
2014, the Board will provide such notification no later than March 31, 
and for each stress test cycle beginning thereafter, the Board will 
provide such notification no later than June 30. The notification will 
include a general description of the additional component(s) or 
additional scenario(s) and the basis for requiring the company to 
include the additional component(s) or additional scenario(s).
    (ii) Request for reconsideration and Board response. Within 14 
calendar days of receipt of a notification under this paragraph, the 
covered company may request in writing that the Board reconsider the 
requirement that the company include the additional component(s) or 
additional scenario(s), including an explanation as to why the 
reconsideration should be granted. The Board will respond in writing 
within 14 calendar days of receipt of the company's request.
    (iii) Description of component. The Board will provide the covered 
company with a description of any additional component(s) or additional 
scenario(s) by June 1 (for the stress test cycle beginning October 1, 
2014) and by September 1 (for each stress test cycle beginning 
thereafter).


Sec.  252.56  Methodologies and practices.

    (a) Potential impact on capital. In conducting a stress test under 
Sec. Sec.  252.54 and 252.55, for each quarter of the planning horizon, 
a covered company must estimate the following for each scenario 
required to be used:
    (1) Losses, pre-provision net revenue, provision for loan and lease 
losses, and net income; and
    (2) The potential impact on pro forma regulatory capital levels and 
pro forma capital ratios (including regulatory capital ratios, the tier 
1 common ratio, and any other capital ratios specified by the Board), 
incorporating the effects of any capital actions over the planning 
horizon and maintenance of an allowance for loan losses appropriate for 
credit exposures throughout the planning horizon.
    (b) Assumptions regarding capital actions. In conducting a stress 
test under Sec. Sec.  252.54 and 252.55, a covered company is required 
to make the following assumptions regarding its capital actions over 
the planning horizon:
    (1) For the first quarter of the planning horizon, the covered 
company must take into account its actual capital actions as of the end 
of that quarter; and
    (2) For each of the second through ninth quarters of the planning 
horizon, the covered company must include in the projections of 
capital:
    (i) Common stock dividends equal to the quarterly average dollar 
amount of common stock dividends that the company paid in the previous 
year (that is, the first quarter of the planning horizon and the 
preceding three calendar quarters);
    (ii) Payments on any other instrument that is eligible for 
inclusion in the numerator of a regulatory capital ratio equal to the 
stated dividend, interest, or principal due on such instrument during 
the quarter;
    (iii) An assumption of no redemption or repurchase of any capital 
instrument that is eligible for inclusion in the numerator of a 
regulatory capital ratio; and
    (iv) An assumption of no issuances of common stock or preferred 
stock, except for issuances related to expensed employee compensation.
    (c) Controls and oversight of stress testing processes--(1) In 
general. The senior management of a covered company must establish and 
maintain a system of controls, oversight, and documentation, including 
policies and procedures, that are designed to ensure that its stress 
testing processes are effective in meeting the requirements in this 
subpart. These policies and procedures must, at a minimum, describe the 
covered company's stress testing practices and methodologies, and 
processes for validating and updating the company's stress test 
practices and methodologies consistent with applicable laws, 
regulations, and supervisory guidance. Policies of covered companies 
must also describe processes for scenario development for the mid-cycle 
stress test required under Sec.  252.55.
    (2) Oversight of stress testing processes. The board of directors, 
or a committee thereof, of a covered company must review and approve 
the policies and procedures of the stress testing processes as 
frequently as economic conditions or the condition of the covered 
company may warrant, but no less than annually. The board of directors 
and senior management of the covered company must receive a summary of 
the results of any stress test conducted under this subpart.
    (3) Role of stress testing results. The board of directors and 
senior management of each covered company must consider the results of 
the analysis it conducts under this subpart, as appropriate:
    (i) As part of the covered company's capital plan and capital 
planning process, including when making changes to the covered 
company's capital structure (including the level and composition of 
capital);
    (ii) When assessing the covered company's exposures, 
concentrations, and risk positions; and
    (iii) In the development or implementation of any plans of the 
covered company for recovery or resolution.


Sec.  252.57  Reports of stress test results.

    (a) Reports to the Board of stress test results. (1) A covered 
company must report the results of the stress test required under Sec.  
252.54 to the Board in

[[Page 37444]]

the manner and form prescribed by the Board. For the stress test cycle 
beginning October 1, 2014, such results must be submitted by January 5, 
unless that time is extended by the Board in writing. For each stress 
test cycle beginning thereafter, such results must be submitted by 
April 5, unless that time is extended by the Board in writing.
    (2) A covered company must report the results of the stress test 
required under Sec.  252.55 to the Board in the manner and form 
prescribed by the Board. For the stress test cycle beginning October 1, 
2014, such results must be submitted by July 5, unless that time is 
extended by the Board in writing. For each stress test cycle beginning 
thereafter, such results must be submitted by October 5, unless that 
time is extended by the Board in writing.
    (b) Confidential treatment of information submitted. The 
confidentiality of information submitted to the Board under this 
subpart and related materials shall be determined in accordance with 
applicable exemptions under the Freedom of Information Act (5 U.S.C. 
552(b)) and the Board's Rules Regarding Availability of Information (12 
CFR part 261).


Sec.  252.58  Disclosure of stress test results.

    (a) Public disclosure of results--(1) In general. (i) A covered 
company must publicly disclose a summary of the results of the stress 
test required under Sec.  252.54 within the period that is 15 days 
after the Board publicly discloses the results of its supervisory 
stress test of the covered company pursuant to Sec.  252.46(c), unless 
that time is extended by the Board in writing.
    (ii) A covered company must publicly disclose a summary of the 
results of the stress test required under Sec.  252.55. For the stress 
test cycle beginning October 1, 2014, this disclosure must occur in the 
period beginning July 5 and ending July 20, unless that time is 
extended by the Board in writing. For all stress test cycles beginning 
thereafter, this disclosure must occur in the period beginning October 
5 and ending October 20, unless that time is extended by the Board in 
writing.
    (2) Disclosure method. The summary required under this section may 
be disclosed on the Web site of a covered company, or in any other 
forum that is reasonably accessible to the public.
    (b) Summary of results. The summary results must, at a minimum, 
contain the following information regarding the severely adverse 
scenario:
    (1) A description of the types of risks included in the stress 
test;
    (2) A general description of the methodologies used in the stress 
test, including those employed to estimate losses, revenues, provision 
for loan and lease losses, and changes in capital positions over the 
planning horizon;
    (3) Estimates of--
    (i) Pre-provision net revenue and other revenue;
    (ii) Provision for loan and lease losses, realized losses or gains 
on available-for-sale and held-to-maturity securities, trading and 
counterparty losses, and other losses or gains;
    (iii) Net income before taxes;
    (iv) Loan losses (dollar amount and as a percentage of average 
portfolio balance) in the aggregate and by subportfolio, including: 
domestic closed-end first-lien mortgages; domestic junior lien 
mortgages and home equity lines of credit; commercial and industrial 
loans; commercial real estate loans; credit card exposures; other 
consumer loans; and all other loans; and
    (v) Pro forma regulatory capital ratios and the tier 1 common ratio 
and any other capital ratios specified by the Board;
    (4) An explanation of the most significant causes for the changes 
in regulatory capital ratios and the tier 1 common ratio; and
    (5) With respect to any depository institution subsidiary that is 
subject to stress testing requirements pursuant to 12 U.S.C. 
5365(i)(2), as implemented by subpart B of this part, 12 CFR part 46 
(OCC), or 12 CFR part 325, subpart C (FDIC), changes over the planning 
horizon in regulatory capital ratios and any other capital ratios 
specified by the Board and an explanation of the most significant 
causes for the changes in regulatory capital ratios.
    (c) Content of results. (1) The following disclosures required 
under paragraph (b) of this section must be on a cumulative basis over 
the planning horizon:
    (i) Pre-provision net revenue and other revenue;
    (ii) Provision for loan and lease losses, realized losses/gains on 
available-for-sale and held-to-maturity securities, trading and 
counterparty losses, and other losses or gains;
    (iii) Net income before taxes; and
    (iv) Loan losses in the aggregate and by subportfolio.
    (2) The disclosure of pro forma regulatory capital ratios, the tier 
1 common ratio, and any other capital ratios specified by the Board 
that is required under paragraph (b) of this section must include the 
beginning value, ending value, and minimum value of each ratio over the 
planning horizon.

Subpart O--Enhanced Prudential Standards for Foreign Banking 
Organizations With Total Consolidated Assets of $50 Billion or More 
and Combined U.S. Assets of $50 Billion or More

0
8. In Sec.  252.153, revise paragraph (e) to read as follows:


Sec.  252.153  U.S. intermediate holding company requirement for 
foreign banking organizations with U.S. non-branch assets of $50 
billion or more.

* * * * *
    (e) Enhanced prudential standards for U.S. intermediate holding 
companies--(1) Applicability--(i) Ongoing application. Subject to the 
initial applicability provisions in paragraph (e)(1)(ii) of this 
section, a U.S. intermediate holding company must comply with the 
capital, risk management, and liquidity requirements set forth in 
paragraphs (e)(2)(i), (e)(3), and (e)(4) of this section beginning on 
the date it is required to be established, comply with the capital plan 
requirements set forth in paragraph (e)(2)(ii) of this section in 
accordance with Sec.  225.8(c)(2), and comply with the stress test 
requirements set forth in paragraph (e)(5) beginning with the stress 
test cycle the calendar year following that in which it becomes subject 
to regulatory capital requirements.
    (ii) Initial applicability--(A) General. A U.S. intermediate 
holding company required to be established by July 1, 2016 must comply 
with the risk-based capital, risk management, and liquidity 
requirements set forth in paragraphs (e)(2)(i), (e)(3), and (e)(4) of 
this section beginning on July 1, 2016, and comply with the capital 
planning requirements set forth in (e)(2)(ii) of this section in 
accordance with Sec.  225.8(c)(2).
    (B) Transition provisions for leverage. (1) A U.S. intermediate 
holding company required to be established by July 1, 2016 must comply 
with the leverage capital requirements set forth in paragraph (e)(2)(i) 
of this section beginning on January 1, 2018, provided that each 
subsidiary bank holding company and insured depository institution 
controlled by the foreign banking organization immediately prior to the 
establishment or designation of the U.S. intermediate holding company, 
and each bank holding company and insured depository institution 
acquired by the foreign banking organization after establishment of the 
intermediate holding company, is subject to leverage capital 
requirements under 12 CFR part 217 until December 31, 2017.
    (2) The Board may accelerate the application of the leverage ratio 
to a

[[Page 37445]]

U.S. intermediate holding company if it determines that the foreign 
banking organization has taken actions to evade the application of this 
subpart.
    (C) Transition provisions for stress testing. (1) A U.S. 
intermediate holding company required to be established by July 1, 2016 
must comply with the stress test requirements set forth in paragraph 
(e)(5) of this section beginning on January 1, 2018, provided that each 
subsidiary bank holding company and insured depository institution 
controlled by the foreign banking organization immediately prior to the 
establishment or designation of the U.S. intermediate holding company, 
and each bank holding company and insured depository institution 
acquired by the foreign banking organization after establishment of the 
intermediate holding company, must comply with the stress test 
requirements in subparts B, E, or F of this subpart, as applicable, 
until December 31, 2017.
0
9. Appendix A to part 252 is amended by:
0
a. Redesignating footnotes 21 through 40 as footnotes 1 through 20.
0
b. Revising Footnotes 1, 2, 9, 19, and 20; and
0
c. Revising paragraphs 1.b, 2.a, and 7.a
    The revisions read as follows:

Appendix A to Part 252--Policy Statement on the Scenario Design 
Framework for Stress Testing

* * * * *

1. Background

    \1\ 12 U.S.C. 5365(i)(1), 12 CFR part 252, subpart E.
    \2\ 12 U.S.C. 5365(i)(2); 12 CFR part 252, subparts B and F.
* * * * *
    \9\ 12 CFR 252.14(b), 12 CFR 252.44(b), 12 CFR 252.54(b).
* * * * *
    \19\ 12 CFR 252.55.
    \20\ 12 CFR 252.55.

    b. The stress test rules provide that, for the stress test cycle 
beginning October 1, 2014, the Board will notify covered companies 
by no later than November 15, 2014 of the scenarios it will use to 
conduct its annual supervisory stress tests and the scenarios that 
covered companies must use to conduct their annual company-run 
stress tests.\4\ For each stress test cycle beginning thereafter, 
the Board will provide a description of these scenarios to covered 
companies by no later than February 15 of that calendar year. Under 
the stress test rules, the Board may require certain companies to 
use additional components in the adverse or severely adverse 
scenario or additional scenarios.\5\ For example, the Board expects 
to require large banking organizations with significant trading 
activities to include a trading and counterparty component (market 
shock, described in the following sections) in their adverse and 
severely adverse scenarios. The Board will provide any additional 
components or scenario by no later than December 1 of each year.\6\ 
The Board expects that the scenarios it will require the companies 
to use will be the same as those the Board will use to conduct its 
supervisory stress tests (together, stress test scenarios).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \4\ 12 CFR 252.44(b), 12 CFR 252.54(b). For the stress test 
cycle beginning October 1, 2014, the annual company-run stress tests 
use data as of September 30 of each calendar year. For each stress 
test cycle beginning thereafter, the annual company-run stress tests 
use data as of December 31 of each calendar year.
    \5\ Id.
    \6\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

* * * * *

2. Overview and Scope

    a. This policy statement provides more detail on the 
characteristics of the stress test scenarios and explains the 
considerations and procedures that underlie the approach for 
formulating these scenarios. The considerations and procedures 
described in this policy statement apply to the Board's stress 
testing framework, including to the stress tests required under 12 
CFR part 252, subparts E, F, and G, as well as the Board's capital 
plan rule (12 CFR 225.8).\8\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \8\ The Board may determine that modifications to the approach 
are appropriate, for instance, to address a broader range of risks, 
such as, operational risk.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

* * * * *

7. Timeline for Scenario Publication

    a. The Board will provide a description of the macroeconomic 
scenarios by no later than November 15, 2014 (for the stress test 
cycle beginning October 1, 2014) and no later than February 15 (for 
each stress test cycle beginning thereafter). During the period 
immediately preceding the publication of the scenarios, the Board 
will collect and consider information from academics, professional 
forecasters, international organizations, domestic and foreign 
supervisors, and other private-sector analysts that regularly 
conduct stress tests based on U.S. and global economic and financial 
scenarios, including analysts at the covered companies. In addition, 
the Board will consult with the FDIC and the OCC on the salient 
risks to be considered in the scenarios. For the stress test cycle 
beginning October 1, 2014, the Board expects to conduct this process 
in July and August of 2014 and to update the scenarios based on 
incoming macroeconomic data releases and other information through 
the end of October. For each stress test cycle beginning thereafter, 
the Board expects to conduct this process in October and November of 
each year and to update the scenarios based on incoming 
macroeconomic data releases and other information through the end of 
January.
* * * * *


    By order of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve 
System, June 12, 2014.
Robert deV. Frierson,
Secretary of the Board.
[FR Doc. 2014-14357 Filed 6-30-14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6210-01-P