The Bank of England announced that effective April 25, 2016, it would become the administrator of the Sterling Overnight Index Average interest rate benchmark. SONIA provides bank and building societies’ overnight funding rates in the sterling unsecured market. It is designated as a specified benchmark under UK legislation. The Wholesale Market Brokers’ Association is currently the administrator of SONIA and is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Under the new arrangements, the WMBA will be the calculation and publication agent for the SONIA benchmark, with the Bank of England assuming overall responsibility and providing governance and oversight. The Bank of England has been working to reform SONIA since March 2015 and intends to broaden the range of transactions supporting SONIA to include bilaterally negotiated and brokered transactions. The Bank of England's new money market data collection, announced in July 2015, will be used as the data source once it is properly established. The full transition is expected to be completed by Q2 2017. 

View the Bank of England's announcement. 

The Financial Conduct Authority announced that acting Chief Executive Officer, Tracey McDermott, would leave the regulator on July 1, 2016. Andrew Bailey, currently Deputy Governor for Prudential Regulation at the Bank of England and Chief Executive Officer of the Prudential Regulation Authority, will take up the position of CEO of the FCA from July 1, 2016. 

View the FCA's announcement.

The European Banking Authority published a report on supervisory measures taken by national regulators in 2014 on compliance by credit institutions and investments firms with securitization risk retention, due diligence and disclosure requirements under the Capital Requirements Regulation. The EBA is required to assess regulators' measures to ensure compliance. The report notes that firms are generally undertaking actions to comply with the requirements. Since the introduction of the requirements under the Capital Requirements Directive II in 2011, ten firms have been deemed non-compliant, with one firm receiving a sanction of an additional risk weight. The report provides analysis of how the EBA's recommendations on regulation of risk retention rules, due diligence and disclosure in the EU, as specified in a 2014 EBA report, have been taken on board in the legislative proposals for the new securitization framework issued by the European Commission as part of its Capital Markets Union initiative. 

Read more. 

The European Banking Authority published an Opinion on the application of customer due diligence measures to customers who are asylum seekers from higher-risk third countries or territories. The Opinion, addressed to national EU regulators, outlines the EBA’s view on the application of customer due diligence measures by credit and financing institutions when entering into a business relationship with customers who are asylum seekers from higher-risk third countries. Firms are required under the EU's anti money laundering legislation (to be transposed into national law by June 27, 2017) to prevent financial systems being exploited for the purpose of money laundering or terrorist financing. 
 

The US Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Vice Chairman Thomas Hoenig issued the semi-annual update of the Global Capital Index, an index showing the capital ratios for global systemically important banks. Upon release of the update, Vice Chairman Hoenig noted that the loss-absorbing tangible capital levels of the largest US banks are increasing relative to their foreign counterparts. Vice Chairman Hoenig emphasized however that, although the update indicated the overall health of US banks, compared to foreign banks, progress must still continue to a point where banks maintain sufficient levels of tangible capital to effectively move the cost of downside risk from the public to the firms.

View the updated Global Capital Index.

The US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency released its Risk Appetite Statement, which documents the OCC’s overall conservative risk appetite in carrying out its supervisory mission. The Risk Appetite Statement provides that the OCC will accept more risk in some areas in order to adapt to the changing needs of supervised national banks and federal savings associations. OCC management and employees will use the statement to evaluate their decisions in overseeing national banks and federal savings associations as well as the execution of agency management functions, such as human resources, procurement and information technology.

Comptroller of the Currency Thomas J. Curry noted that by clearly articulating acceptable levels of risks within the OCC’s operations, agency personnel have “clearer signposts by which to guide their decisions and external stakeholders can better understand OCC actions in the context of the risks facing the agency.” The OCC plans to update its Risk Appetite Statement periodically as the federal banking system and its supervision evolve.

View the OCC’s Risk Appetite Statement. 

The European Securities and Markets Authority published an Opinion setting out key principles for a European framework on loan origination by funds. The Opinion is in response to the European Commission's request that ESMA assist in developing points for its forthcoming consultation on an European framework. The potential framework is part of the Commission's Capital Markets Union Action Plan. 

Read more.

The Economic Secretary to the UK Treasury, Harriett Baldwin, gave a speech at the 2016 Innovate Finance Global Summit in London. The Economic Secretary announced certain policies that the UK Government had adopted to support the FinTech sector, including establishing a FinTech panel, the delivery of a support function to set an overarching UK FinTech strategy and establishing ‘FinTech Bridges’ to work with priority global markets to assist UK FinTechs to grow internationally.

View HM Treasury's press release. 

The UK Government launched a consultation on a draft innovation plan for financial services. The innovation plan covers the work of each of the financial services regulators – the Financial Conduct Authority, the Payment Systems Regulator, the Prudential Regulation Authority and the Bank of England – setting out the steps that each regulator has taken or intends to take to adapt to new technologies and disruptive business models to encourage competition and growth and to better utilize technologies to reduce burdens on business and create efficiency savings. The consultation seeks feedback on the UK's regulatory environment for financial services supporting innovation, whether the regulators understand innovation and where new technologies might emerge, if there are any gaps that the regulators should focus on and if there are ways that the regulators could better utilize technologies. Responses are requested by May 6, 2016.

A corrigendum relating to the format and frequency of the reporting of liquidity requirements under the Capital Requirements Regulation was published in the Official Journal of the European Union. The corrigendum corrects numerical references to Annexes contained in Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/322 relating to types of information to be reported and the instructions for reporting. 

View the corrigendum.

The US Financial Stability Oversight Council filed its appeal to the DC District Court opinion overturning the FSOC’s designation of insurer MetLife as a systemically important financial institution. In the March 30, 2016 judicial opinion that was unsealed last week, US District Court Judge Rosemary Collyer called the FSOC’s determination process “fatally flawed” and “arbitrary and capricious,” ruling that the FSOC did not follow its own guidelines before deciding on the Metlife designation. US Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew has criticized the court’s ruling, arguing that by overturning the conclusions of experienced financial regulators, “the court imposed new requirements that Congress never enacted, and contradicted key policy lessons from the financial crisis.”

View the US District Court opinion.

View the statement from Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew.   

Sam Woods was appointed Deputy Governor of the Bank of England and Chief Executive of the Prudential Regulation Authority. Mr. Woods will succeed Andrew Bailey on July 1, 2016.  Mr. Bailey will move to the Financial Conduct Authority as Chief Executive when Mr. Woods takes on the role of Deputy Governor. Mr. Woods, who previously worked for HM Treasury and in the private sector for Diageo and McKinsey & Company, will take up a renewable term of five years as Deputy Governor.  

View the press release. 

The European Commission adopted a Delegated Directive on aspects of the revised Markets in Financial Instruments Directive covering rules for the safeguarding of client financial instruments and funds, product governance requirements and inducements. 

Read more.

At the American Banker Retail Banking Conference, US Comptroller of the Currency Thomas J. Curry discussed innovation in the financial services industry and its impact on retail bankers, consumers of banking services and regulatory agencies. Comptroller Curry noted that if banks are to remain relevant in a changing world, they have to be able to adapt quickly to changes in technology and business practices. He also noted the importance of regulators being open to such changes but cautioned that regulators do so in a responsible way that does not threaten the safety of the system or the financial well-being of bank customers. The Comptroller also spoke about the OCC’s principles for implementing a regulatory framework to support responsible innovation in the federal banking system.

View Comptroller Curry’s remarks. 

US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Richard Cordray presented the CFPB’s Semi‑Annual Report at a hearing before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs. Under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, the CFPB is required to provide to Congress an update on the CFPB’s mission, activities, accomplishments and publications since the last Semi-Annual Report, as well as certain additional information required by the Dodd-Frank Act.

As part of the hearing, Cordray also responded to questions from the Committee, including what standards FinTech companies will be held to since they are not depository institutions. Cordray noted that “it would not be appropriate for new FinTech startups to be getting an advantage in the marketplace because they are arbitraging the regulatory system, they are not complying, they’re not taking seriously what the banks and regulated institutions have to do.” While many FinTech firms hold “a lot of promise,” Cordray added that innovation isn’t always a net positive, and cited subprime mortgages as an example of what was once thought of as an innovative product.

At the hearing, Cordray also fielded questions on payday loans, arbitration agreements, prepaid cards and small-business lending. The most contentious interactions involved indirect auto lending and regulation by enforcement.

View Cordray's written testimony. 

View additional coverage of the hearing. 

The US Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System proposed technical amendments to its rule requiring a risk-based capital surcharge for global systemically important bank holding companies. The rule, finalized by the Federal Reserve Board in July 2015, establishes the criteria for identifying a GSIB and the methodology a GSIB is required to use to determine its risk-based capital surcharge, which corresponds to the systemic risk of that firm.

The proposed amendments would not materially change the underlying final rule but rather clarify that GSIBs must continue to calculate their surcharges using year-end data, while their related surcharge data will be reported on a quarterly basis. The proposal explains that bank holding companies subject to the rule are required to compute their method 2 surcharge scores using systemic indicator amounts expressed in billions of dollars even though the data is reported in millions of dollars. The amendments also provide additional information on how GSIBs should calculate their short-term wholesale funding scores, which help to determine their surcharges, during the rule’s transition period.

Comments on the proposal are due by May 13, 2016.

View the Federal Reserve Board press release.

View the proposal.  

The European Securities and Markets Authority published a discussion paper on the recognition of the different share classes offered by Undertakings for Collective Investments in Transferable Securities funds in different EU jurisdictions. ESMA identified in 2014 diverging national practices as to the types of share class permitted under the UCITS Directive. ESMA is seeking stakeholder's views on its proposed framework for UCITS share classes throughout the European Union. In particular, whether and how share classes work under the ESMA principles. The paper describes the nature of the different share classes and establishes common principles which could form the basis of a regulatory framework for all share classes.
 

The European Securities and Markets Authority published a peer review report on compliance with the suitability requirements under the existing Markets in Financial Instruments Directive. The review assessed during the period January 1, 2013, to December 31, 2014 how national regulators approach supervision of firms to ensure compliance with the MiFID suitability requirements when investment advice is given to retail clients. The MiFID suitability requirements aim to ensure that firms only recommend suitable investment products to investors taking into account the client's profile.  ESMA found, amongst other things, that only some regulators provide information on the tools they use to monitor compliance with the suitability requirements, many regulators do not undertake targeted supervision projects relating to suitability and enforcement action is rare as most regulators consider that their supervisory approach is sufficient to address any issues. ESMA will analyze the findings and determine areas where further convergence between the approaches taken by national regulators is needed. 

View the review report.

The UK Payment Systems Regulator announced that after consideration, it had decided that it would not be imposing any new access or governance requirements on card payment schemes. The PSR introduced governance requirements for interbank payment systems in 2015. The PSR has considered the information it has gathered as well as the improvements made in the area through EU legislation, in particular, the Payment Services Regulations 2009. The PSR will continue to assess whether any changes are necessary.

View the announcement.

The European Banking Authority, European Securities and Markets Authority and European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (known as the Joint Committee of the European Supervisory Authorities) published a report identifying three main areas of risk and vulnerability affecting the stability of the EU financial system. The ESAs noted that investment funds had experienced markedly lower returns during the second half of 2015. The ESAs observed that the low interest rate environment coupled with high non-performing loans ratios in some countries, has contributed to the subdued profitability of banks in the EU. The report concludes that a proactive stance is required to address the high level of non-performing loans at some banks. The report highlighted the trend of increasing interconnectivity of bank and non-bank entities. The ESAs noted that interconnectedness could act as a potential channel for the propagation of shocks and thereby contribute to negative systematic events. The ESA recommends that the regulators should implement enhanced supervisory monitoring of concentration risks, cross-border exposures and regulatory arbitrage. The ESAs also highlights the risks associated with a potential contagion stemming from China and other emerging markets. Following a decade of strong contributions to global economic growth from emerging economies and China, the recent economic slowdown in these economies could have substantial effects on the EU in future. To forecast the risk in market exposure to these economies, the ESAs suggest that these markets should be covered in risk analysis exercises such as stress test exercises.  Supervisors are also asked by the ESAs to carefully evaluate any optimistic assumptions relating to returns on cross border activity.

View ESA report. 

US Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Chairman Martin J. Gruenberg discussed the consolidation of community banks, noting that while many of the smallest (with assets less than $100 million) have either consolidated or ceased operations, the number of larger community banks (with assets of between $1 billion and $10 billion) has actually increased over the past 30 years. He further noted that approximately 93 percent of FDIC-insured institutions are considered “community banks” and play an important role in providing small loans to farms and businesses and deposit services to communities across the US. However, Gruenberg observed that community banks face many challenges including a decline in net interest margins.

Read more. 

The US Department of Labor announced final rules that will, for the first time, subject investment advice to IRA and other non-ERISA plan clients to ERISA’s fiduciary standards and remedies. Currently, brokers and dealers and other advisers to retail retirement clients are required to adhere to a “suitability” standard with respect to their investment advice. Under the new rule and related prohibited transaction exemptions, which will be applicable beginning in April 2017, these financial professionals must act in the “best interests” of their client in order to continue receiving common forms of compensation (such as commissions, third party payments and other forms of variable remuneration). In eliminating certain compliance requirements, the final rule is less stringent than the proposed rule issued in April 2015, but it still represents a major departure from the status quo.

View Shearman & Sterling's client memorandum discussing the new rule and related exemptions. 

View the final rule.

View the fact sheet released by the White House.

US Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Vice Chairman Thomas M. Hoenig discussed the decline of traditional community banks over the last thirty years and the resulting concentration of the US financial system in a few large financial firms. Hoenig outlined his recommendation of a model of regulatory relief that would provide greater flexibility to banks operating in the United States. Notably, Hoenig’s framework would abandon references to size thresholds, but would instead grant regulatory relief to banks that: (i) hold no trading assets or liabilities; (ii) hold no derivatives positions other than interest rate and foreign exchange derivatives; (iii) have a total notional value of all their derivatives exposures (including cleared and non-cleared derivatives) of less than $8 billion; and (iv) maintain a ratio of GAAP tangible equity-to-assets of at least 10 percent. He suggested that such banks should potentially be exempt from Basel capital standards, stress testing requirements, and certain reporting requirements.

View Vice Chairman Hoenig’s speech. 

At the SIFMA Anti-Money Laundering and Financial Crimes Conference, Jennifer Fowler, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the US Treasury, spoke regarding progress that the US has made in strengthening its framework for anti-money laundering and combatting the financing of terrorism. Fowler noted that the Financial Action Task Force is currently undergoing a mandatory assessment of its AML/CFT framework, focusing not only on technical compliance with the FATF standards, but more importantly, how effectively those standards are implemented. Fowler also addressed ways the US can improve in combating illicit finance, specifically, among other things, by: (i) seeking to clarify and strengthen customer due diligence requirements for financial institutions; and (ii) ensuring that companies know and disclose their ultimate, or beneficial, owners to the government at the time of company formation.

View Fowler’s speech. 

The US Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System's Division of Banking Supervision and Regulation and Basel Coordination Committee issued a bulletin that provides supervisory guidance with respect to the issuance of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision’s second consultative paper published on March 4, 2016, “Standardised Measurement Approach for Operational Risk.”
The BCBS paper proposes certain revisions applicable to large, internationally active banking organizations, including a non-model-based method for calculating operational risk-weighted assets and a withdrawal of the advanced measurement approaches (AMA) for operational risk from the Basel capital framework. In its bulletin, the Federal Reserve Board states that it will consider the BCBS proposals in connection with the US advanced approaches risk-based capital rule in a manner consistent with the US notice and comment process, during which time the existing AMA capital requirements will remain in effect.

View the Federal Reserve Board guidance.   

The European Banking Authority published a consultation paper proposing amendments to the regulatory technical standards for determining proxy spread and the specification of a limited number of smaller portfolios for credit valuation adjustment risk under the Capital Requirements Regulation. On February 25, 2015, the EBA published a report on the relevance of the RTS provisions. In particular, the EBA focused on a CVA data collection exercise of 32 banks from 11 jurisdictions. The EBA concluded, based on the collection exercise, that there were difficulties in determining appropriate proxy spreads and market loss given default for a large number of counterparties because spreads may never be observed on markets. The amending RTS provides alternative approaches for the purpose of identifying appropriate proxy spread and market loss given default, in response to the issues outlined in the previous EBA report. The consultation invites responses on whether the amendments address the issues raised in the previous EBA report and whether the amendments are needed. Responses to the consultation are due by July 6, 2016. 

View the EBA consultation.

The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision published proposals to revise the existing leverage ratio framework. The proposals include amendments to the : (i) measurement of derivative exposures by adopting a modified version of the standardized approach for measuring counterparty credit risk exposures; (ii) treatment of regular-way purchases and sales of financial assets so as to achieve consistency across accounting standards; (iii) treatment of provisions; and (iv) credit conversion factors for off-balance sheet items by aligning them with the standardized approach to credit risk.  In addition, the Basel Committee proposes to impose additional requirements on global systemically important banks, setting out options, including whether the additional requirement should apply uniformly to all G-SIBs or be tailored and whether the form should be a higher minimum requirement or a buffer requirement. Responses to the consultation are due by July 6, 2016. The Basel Committee intends to finalize the revised leverage ratio requirement in 2016 so as to allow time for its implementation by January 1, 2018. 

View the consultation paper.

The Financial Conduct Authority published its thematic review on how firms in the fund management sector meet investors' expectations. The FCA considered whether UK authorized investment funds and segregated mandates were operated in line with investors' expectations as outlined in market material, disclosure material and investment mandates. A sample of 23 funds was reviewed, which were all Undertakings for Collective Instruments in Transferable Securities (UCITS) schemes sold to retail investors. The FCA found that generally fund management firms had taken the right steps to meet investors' expectations and comply with their responsibilities to investors and that firms generally provided adequate information about funds' strategies, characteristics and inherent risks. This provides customers and financial advisers with better opportunities to make informed investment decisions. The review highlights the need for investors to be provided with accessible information on the risks associated with investing; the FCA found that most firms disclosed the key risks associated with their funds. The FCA will be writing to all the firms involved the review to provide individual feedback. Firms that were deemed not to have effectively managed their risks are required by the FCA to make the associated improvements. The FCA noted that it will follow up on the results of the review through its routine supervision.

View the review.

The International Organization of Securities Commissions published a report on cyber security in securities markets from an international perspective. The purpose of the report is to assist IOSCO members and market participants to enhance their cyber security in securities markets. The report outlines from an international perspective the various approaches adopted by market participants and the initiatives implemented by different regulators. The report focuses on the main regulatory challenges associated with cyber security issues across reporting issuers, trading venues, market intermediaries, asset managers and financial market infrastructures. The report states that regulators could cooperate to improve cyber security through the exchange of information on threats, security vulnerabilities and previous cyber-attacks that could ultimately be relevant for other regulated entities and market participants. Specifically, information on methods used by cyber criminals, exploited vulnerabilities they are aware of, ways of preventing similar attacks previously committed and emerging cyber risk trends. IOSCO concludes that the fluid nature of securities markets requires market participants and regulators to constantly evolve their responses to cyber security issues.

View the report.

A Commission Delegated Regulation and Commission Implementing Regulation supplementing the Market Abuse Regulation were published in the Official Journal of the European Union. The Delegated Regulation extends the exemption to certain public bodies and central banks of third countries from the obligations set out in MAR, including amongst others, the Reserve Bank of Australia, Central Bank of Brazil, Bank of Canada and the People's Bank of China. 
 

The European Securities and Market Authority published its final report and amending regulatory technical standards on the margin period for Central Counterparty client accounts. The amending RTS change the time horizons for the liquidation period for gross omnibus accounts and individual segregated accounts for exchange traded derivatives and securities. ESMA considers that a CCP, in a liquidation period, should be able to either transfer or liquidate the position of the defaulting clearing member and furthermore, have sufficient margin to cover exposures arising from such transfer or liquidation.

Read More. 

The European Securities and Market Authority published its final report containing final draft amending regulatory technical standards regarding requirements for regulator access to Trade Repositories data and the subsequent aggregation and comparison of that data. The European Market Infrastructure Regulation requires ESMA to develop draft technical standards specifying the frequency and the details of the information to be made available to regulators by TRs. TRs are to provide regulators with access as required. ESMA has amended the RTS, first published in 2013, to provide regulators with better access to data and to improve their ability to compare and aggregate data. For the exchange of data between TRs and regulators, ESMA has proposed an XML template based on ISO 20022 methodology. ISO 20022 is a universal message scheme for the financial services industry. This methodology can be used to facilitate aggregation and comparison of data across repositories. The amended RTS also defines the minimum operational standards to allow direct and immediate access to TR data and the aggregation and comparison of data across TRs. The amended RTS sets out definitive timelines for the provision of data to regulators. ESMA expects this will enable regulators to better plan and schedule their internal processes for gathering and analysis of TR data. The RTS provides minimum standards for secure machine to machine connection and data exchange between TRs and regulators. In particular, ESMA has proposed enhanced procedures for data security, including the use of electronic signatures and data encryption protocols when providing regulators access to TR data. ESMA's proposed amendments to operation standards on data access also require TRs to validate in a timely manner requests from regulators. ESMA has submitted the additional final draft RTS to the European Commission for endorsement.

View the final report.

The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission jointly proposed guidance relating to the treatment of certain electric power and natural gas contracts. Specifically, the guidance proposes that certain capacity contracts in electric power markets and certain natural gas contracts known as peaking supply contracts should not be considered "swaps" under the Commodity Exchange Act, because such contracts are examples of customary commercial arrangements as described in the final rule defining what constitutes a "swap". The proposed guidance will be open for comment for 30 days after it is published in the Federal Register.

View the proposed Guidance.

The US Internal Revenue Service issued a proposal under Section 385 of the Internal Revenue Code with respect to the treatment of instruments issued by corporations in related-party transactions as debt or equity for federal tax purposes. On the same day, the US Treasury Department also took action to limit US corporate “inversions” and to restrict earnings stripping aspects of such transactions.

Specifically, the US Treasury regulations would, among other things, limit corporate inversions by disregarding foreign parent stock attributable to certain prior inversions or acquisitions of US companies. Additionally, debt issued by a US subsidiary to its foreign parent would be treated as equity under certain circumstances. The proposals have raised concerns with respect to the impact on US subsidiaries of foreign banking organizations, specifically intermediate holding companies subject to the Federal Reserve Board’s total loss absorbing capacity (TLAC) requirements. These new proposals add further complexity regarding the tax treatment of TLAC debt.

View the IRS proposed regulations.

View the Treasury Department press release. 

While speaking at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston’s 2016 Cybersecurity Conference, Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren addressed risks in the cyber realm, noting that such risks are not abating. In Rosengren’s view, banking organizations need to continue to evolve as these risks morph, and as new innovations and expectations of convenience introduce new challenges to security. Rosengren stated, “cyber risks make it imperative that we all work together to ensure that resiliency, monitoring, detection, and recovery capabilities are operational in the financial system.”

View Rosengren’s remarks. 

The US Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System proposed changes to various reporting forms, including FR Y-7N, FR Y‑7NS and FR Y-7Q, requiring collection of fourteen new data items to monitor compliance with enhanced prudential standards for foreign banking organizations. The new data items, adopted pursuant to Subparts N and O of Regulation YY, would be used to determine whether an FBO with total consolidated assets of $50 billion or more meets capital adequacy standards at the consolidated parent company level that are consistent with the Basel capital framework.

The proposed revisions would be effective September 30, 2016, and, for certain items, March 31, 2018. Comments to the Federal Reserve Board proposal are due by June 3, 2016.

View the proposal.   

The US Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System released a final rule that would permit certain US general obligation state and municipal securities to count towards the high-quality liquid assets (HQLA) that large banking organizations may use to satisfy the liquidity coverage ratio (LCR) requirement. The LCR, as adopted by the federal banking agencies in September 2014, requires large banking organizations to hold a minimum amount of HQLA no less than their total net cash outflow amount over a 30-day forward-looking period of significant financial stress. Specifically, the final rule allows certain investment-grade, US general obligation state and municipal securities to qualify as HQLA up to certain levels if they meet the same liquidity criteria that currently apply to corporate debt securities. Although the LCR rule did not initially allow US municipal securities to be treated as HQLA, the Federal Reserve noted that subsequent analysis suggested that certain US municipal securities should qualify as HQLA because they have liquidity characteristics similar to other classes of HQLA, including corporate debt securities, and thus should receive similar treatment. The rule goes into effect on July 1, 2016. While the US LCR rule was an interagency rulemaking with substantively identical rules implemented by the Federal Reserve, the US Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, neither the OCC nor the FDIC issued a similar rule with respect to the treatment of municipal securities as HQLA.

View the Final Rule.

In early April, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York released a staff report entitled “Organizational Complexity and Balance Sheet Management in Global Banks,” which analyzes the evolution of banks from standalone institutions to being subsidiaries of complex financial conglomerates. The paper suggests the organizational complexity of the family of a bank is a fundamental driver of the business model of the bank itself, as reflected in the management of the bank’s own balance sheet. Based on microdata on global banks with branch operations in the United States, the report shows that branches of conglomerates in more complex families have a markedly lower lending sensitivity to funding shocks. The balance sheet management strategies of banks are very much determined by the structure of the organizations the banks belong to and the complexity of the conglomerate can change the scale of the lending channel for a large global bank by more than 30 percent.

View the New York Fed staff report. 

In early April, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System's Divisions of Research and Statistics and Monetary Affairs released a staff working paper entitled “Bank Regulation under Fire Sale Externalities,” addressing the optimal design of, and interaction between, capital and liquidity regulations in a model characterized by fire sale externalities. In particular, the authors analyze whether it suffices to introduce capital regulations alone and let banks freely choose their liquidity ratios or whether liquidity also needs to be regulated. The results of the study indicate that the pre-Basel III regulatory framework, with its reliance only on capital requirements, was inefficient and ineffective in addressing systemic instability caused by fire sales. The paper notes that capital requirements can lead to less severe fire sales by forcing banks to reduce risky assets, however, it also shows that banks respond to stricter capital requirements by decreasing their liquidity ratios. Anticipating this response, the regulator preemptively sets capital ratios at high levels and ultimately, this interplay between banks and the regulator leads to inefficiently low levels of risky assets and liquidity. The paper concludes that macroprudential liquidity requirements that complement capital regulations, as in Basel III, restore constrained efficiency, improve financial stability and allow for a higher level of investment in risky assets.

View the Federal Reserve Board staff working paper. 

The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision published a second report on banking book risk-weighted asset valuation. The report forms part of the Regulatory Consistency Assessment Programme with the aim of effecting full implementation of the Basel III framework. The Committee's first report in 2013 focused on probability of default and loss-given-estimates for sovereign, bank and corporate exposures. This second report examines the variability of RWA in banks that use internal models to calculate their risk regulatory capital requirements.

Read more.

The US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency published a white paper on its vision for responsible innovation in the federal banking system and the eight principles that it will follow in developing a framework to evaluate new financial products and services, including formal outreach to the industry and collaboration with other regulators. The OCC also solicited feedback on how the OCC can facilitate responsible innovation, including what additional tools and resources could assist national banks and federal savings associations with regard to innovation. Comptroller Thomas J. Curry discussed the paper and the OCC's general approach to financial innovation in remarks he gave at Harvard. He discussed the challenges that financial technology companies pose to traditional banks, and how these challenges encourage banks to evolve and improve the products and services they offer to businesses and consumers, but cautioned that banks must do so in a responsible way that is consistent with sound risk management practices. Curry mentioned the possibility of creating a new office dedicated to innovation, and noted the OCC’s commitment to work with banks to identify and understand new technology and help banks manage associated risks and comply with consumer safeguards. Comments on the white paper are due by May 31, 2016. The OCC will host a forum on June 23, 2016, to discuss comments on the white paper and lead a discussion on financial services innovation.

View the OCC's White Paper.

View Comptroller Curry’s speech.

The European Securities and Markets Authority published its final report on Guidelines on the sound remuneration policies under the Units in Collective Undertakings Directive and the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive, including the final Remuneration Guidelines under UCITS V and revised Remuneration Guidelines under the AIFMD. ESMA also published a letter addressed to the European Commission, the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union in which ESMA recommends that legislation is required to provide clarity on the application of the proportionality principle to the remuneration requirements under EU laws.  
 

The UK House of Commons Treasury Committee wrote to the Chancellor of the Exchequer informing him that it had commissioned a report into the Maxwellisation process. Maxwellisation allows those who are going to be criticized in a public report an opportunity to respond to such criticisms and comment on relevant texts prior to their publication. The Treasury Committee's view is that one of the reasons for the delay in the publication of the UK regulators report into the collapse of HBOS was that Maxwellisation was applied, which took some 14 months. The HBOS report was published in December 2015 - seven years after HBOS failed. The Treasury Committee has asked Andrew Green QC to prepare a report on the legal requirements for, the issues that arise in the application of, Maxwellisation and to make recommendations on how Maxwellisation can be applied in a fair and proportionate manner in future public financial enquiries. The report will focus on the financial services sector only. 

View the Treasury Committee's letter.

View the Terms of Reference of the Maxwellisation Review.

US Federal Reserve Bank of New York President William Dudley addressed the role of the US Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and its structure and governance. He provided a detailed overview of the history of the creation and evolution of the Federal Reserve through the 20th century. He defended the Federal Reserve's actions during the financial crisis, noting that critiques of regulators should focus on shortcomings that led to the economic and financial instability of the crisis and not the Federal Reserve's intervening actions to mitigate the consequences. Dudley discussed the significant changes the Federal Reserve has taken since the financial crisis, including establishing the Large Institution Supervision Coordination Committee to look at the largest institutions and the Office of Financial Stability Policy Research to focus on the financial system at a holistic level. He also noted that the Federal Reserve has taken steps to improve transparency, including more speeches by FOMC members, regular testimony, press conferences and public notices after FOMC meetings. He cautioned against making changes to the structure of the Federal Reserve and the implementation of a formal rule for the Federal Reserve to adhere to in setting monetary policy.

View President Dudley's speech. 

US Deputy Treasury Secretary Sarah Bloom Raskin discussed the steps financial sector participants should take to respond and recover from a cyber attack. She noted that the key to an effective response and recovery involves preparation, coordination and practice, especially given that in a widespread cyber attack on the financial system, time would be of the essence. While the financial system has not yet experienced such an attack, Raskin warned that recent interconnected cyber attacks, including large-scale Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks, theft and misuse of customer data and destruction of systems and data, suggest that coordination is imperative in the face of such large-scale attacks. Moreover, Raskin discussed the government’s, and specifically, the US Treasury’s role in responding to, and helping the financial sector recover from, such an attack. Specifically, she mentioned the Treasury’s role in coordinating with federal and state financial and banking regulators, as well as other government agencies to effectively communicate information and to enhance incident response preparation, including response playbooks and cybersecurity table-top exercises. Raskin encouraged the private sector to create robust cyber incident playbooks which identify key players, actions and timelines to be employed in the event of a cyber attack.

View Deputy Treasury Secretary Raskin’s speech.

US Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Mary Jo White discussed the importance of strong governance and investor protection in the wake of developments and innovation in technology and financial markets. Specifically, Chair White discussed the importance of pre-IPO companies making accurate disclosures, and in particular the implications and potential consequences of the increase in so-called "unicorns" which are private start-up firms with valuations that exceed $1 billion. White also remarked on the need to protect investors that are investing under new SEC rules for capital raising under the JOBS Act -Regulation D, Regulation A+ and Regulation Crowdfunding - all of which are designed to allow smaller companies to access the capital markets. White noted that implicit in improving investor protection are strong financial controls and corporate governance, topics which are particularly important for private pre-IPO companies particularly as they go public and grow, often exponentially. Tools such as ensuring relevant expertise on boards and implementing investor protections while pre-IPO companies are private can help mitigate against the risks faced by rapidly growing start-ups. Finally, White noted that the SEC is closely monitoring developments and related investor protection issues in digital finance or fintech, namely blockchain technology, automated investment advice (robo-advisors) and online marketplace lending platforms.

View Chair White’s speech. 

A Commission Implementing Regulation which amends implementing technical standards on supervisory reporting of institutions as regards the reporting of the leverage ratio, was published in the Official Journal of the European Union. The ITS amends the requirement to report the leverage ratio to regulators under the Capital Requirements Regulation. The amending ITS updates prescribed notional values for institutions and derivatives traded to which certain reporting requirements are attached. The amending ITS provides updated leverage reporting ratio templates and instructions for completing the templates. The amending ITS enters into force on April 20, 2016. The regulation shall apply from the first reporting reference date six months from the date of publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.  

View the ITS. 

The Prudential Regulation Authority published a Policy Statement and Supervisory Statement on board responsibilities. The Policy is relevant to all PRA-regulated firms - banks, insurers, designated investment firms, building societies, friendly societies and credit unions. The Supervisory Statement provides PRA guidance on aspects of corporate governance to which the PRA attaches particular importance and to which the PRA may devote particular attention in the course of its supervision. The list, which is not definitive, includes firm strategy, culture, risk appetite and management, board composition, roles of executive and non-executive directors, board time and resources, management information and transparency, succession planning, remuneration, subsidiary boards and board sub-committees. The Supervisory Statement notes that specific accountabilities of individual directors established by the Senior Managers Regime are additional and complementary to the collective responsibility shared by directors as members of the board.

View the policy statement.

View the supervisory statement. 

A new “Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation” (OFSI) was established within Her Majesty’s Treasury, with responsibility for ensuring that sanctions are “properly understood, implemented and enforced in the UK”.  Despite an expansion in the number of sanctions programmes in the EU in recent years, as well as increasingly complex rules, there have not been any significant enforcement actions in the UK, a situation which contrasts with the enthusiastic enforcement practices of US sanctions enforcement agencies. OFSI is expected to work closely with other regulatory authorities, such as the FCA, to apply a more effective sanctions enforcement regime than has previously been the case. To this end, the government is also legislating to ensure that suitable remedies are available for sanctions enforcement.  Provisions in the Policing and Crime Bill outline new administrative penalties, monetary penalties and an increase in the maximum custodial sentence for breaching financial sanctions to seven years on conviction on indictment (or six months imprisonment on summary conviction).
 

The Financial Stability Board announced that it would publish proposed policy recommendations to address structural vulnerabilities in asset management activities. The recommendations will aim to address several risks that such activities present: funds' liquidity mismatch, leverage within funds, operational risk and challenges in transferring investment mandates in a stressed situation and securities lending activities of asset managers and funds. The FSB intends to finalize the recommendations by the end of 2016. The announcement was included in a press release which summarizes the outcomes of the FSB's recent meeting in Tokyo. The FSB will also be focusing on CCP resolution this year and intends to publish guidance on CCP resolution by September and consult on standards or guidance on issues relating to CCP resolution before the end of the year. 

View the FSB announcement.