The federal regulator of national banks and federal savings associations issued a bulletin Wednesday pointing supervised institutions to the proposed stress testing rule that was published this week in the Federal Register.
In Bulletin 2019-7, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) reiterated the extended comment deadline on the proposed rule – March 14 (the deadline announced originally was Feb. 19). It notes the rule implements requirements imposed by section 401 of the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act (EGRRCPA, S. 2155) by:
- raising the minimum asset threshold for national banks and federal savings associations covered by the company-run stress testing requirement from $10 billion to $250 billion in total consolidated assets;
- revising the requirement to stress test “annually” to instead require stress testing “periodically”; and
- no longer requiring the OCC to provide an “adverse” stress testing scenario, thus reducing the number of required stress test scenarios from three to two.
These changes become effective 18 months after the EGRRCPA’s enactment (mid-November 2019).
The bulletin refers to the Feb. 13 publication of the proposed rule in the Register; that’s off by a day, as the proposal published Feb. 12. Also, at the moment, similar EGRRCPA-required stress testing proposals issued by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) and Federal Reserve Board continue to carry a Feb. 19 public comment deadline.
Amendments to the Stress Testing Rules for National Banks and Federal Savings Associations