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Basel Committee on Banking Supervision Regulatory Consistency Assessment Programme (RCAP) Assessment of Basel III regulations – United States of America December 2014
This publication is available on the BIS website (www.bis.org). © Bank for International Settlements 2014. All rights reserved. Brief excerpts may be reproduced or translated provided the source is stated. ISBN 978-92-9197-012-4 (print) ISBN 978-92-9197-011-7 (online)
Regulatory Consistency Assessment Programme – United States iii Contents Glossary ___ 1
Preface ___ 3
Response from United States ___ 7
1 Context, scope and main assessment findings ___ 8
1.1 Context ___ 8
1.2 Structure, enforceability and binding nature of prudential regulations ___ 9
1.3 Scope of the assessment ___ 11
1.4 Main findings ___ 12
2 Detailed assessment findings ___ 28
2.1 Scope of application ___ 28
2.2 Transitional arrangements ___ 28
2.3 Pillar 1: minimum capital requirements ___ 29
2.3.2 Capital buffers (conservation and countercyclical ___ 34
2.3.3 Credit risk: Standardised Approach ___ 34
2.3.4 Credit risk: Internal Ratings-Based approach ___ 38
2.3.5 Securitisation framework ___ 46
2.3.6 Counterparty credit risk framework ___ 48
2.3.7 Market risk: Standardised Measurement Method ___ 53
2.3.8 Market risk: Internal Models Approach ___ 55
2.3.9 Operational risk: Basic Indicator Approach and Standardised Approach ___ 56
2.3.10 Operational risk: Advanced Measurement Approaches ___ 57
2.4 Pillar 2: supervisory review process ___ 61
2.5 Pillar 3: market discipline ___ 61
Annexes ___ 64
Annex 1: RCAP assessment team and review team ___ 64
Annex 2: Implementation of the Basel framework as of cut-off date ___ 65
Annex 3: List of capital standards under the Basel framework used for the assessment ___ 66
Annex 4: Local regulations issued by US authorities for implementing Basel capital standards ___ 67
Annex 5: Details of the RCAP assessment process ___ 68
Annex 6: List of actions made or planned by US authorities ___ 69
Annex 7: Assessment of binding nature of US regulatory documents .
iv Regulatory Consistency Assessment Programme – United States Annex 8: Key financial indicators of US banking system ___ 73
Annex 9: Summary of the materiality assessment and list of banks in the RCAP sample ___ 75
Annex 10: Areas where US requirements are regarded to be higher than the Basel standards ___ 77
Annex 11: List of Basel approaches not allowed by US regulatory framework ___ 80
Annex 12: List of issues for post-RCAP assessment follow-up ___ 81
Annex 13: Areas for further guidance from the Basel Committee ___ 82
Annex 14: US agencies’ summary of their Pillar 2 supervisory review process ___ 83
Annex 15: US floor for banks using advanced Basel approaches .
Regulatory Consistency Assessment Programme – United States 1 Glossary ABCP Asset-backed commercial paper ALLL Allowances for loan and lease losses AMA Advanced Measurement Approach AT1 Additional Tier 1 BCBS Basel Committee on Banking Supervision BEICF Business environment and internal control factors BHC Bank holding company bps Basis points CCAR Comprehensive capital analysis and review CCF Credit conversion factor CCP Central counterparty CCR Counterparty credit risk CDS Credit default swap CET1 Common Equity Tier 1 CFR Code of Federal Regulations CRC OECD’s country risk classification CRM Credit risk mitigation CVA Credit valuation adjustment DI Depository institution DTAs Deferred tax assets EAD Exposure at default EL Expected loss EPE Expected positive exposure FAQs Frequently asked questions FDIA Federal Deposit Insurance Act FDIC Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation FINMA Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority FR Federal register FRB Federal Reserve Board FX Foreign exchange G-SIB Global systemically important bank HVCRE High-volatility commercial real estate IMA Internal Models Approach
2 Regulatory Consistency Assessment Programme – United States IMM Internal Models Method IRB Internal Ratings-Based approach LGD Loss-given-default MR Market risk MRA Matter requiring attention MRIA Matter requiring immediate attention OCC Office of the Comptroller of the Currency OTC Over-the-counter PCA Prompt corrective action PD Probability of default PFE Potential future exposure PON Point of non-viability PSE Public sector entity QCCP Qualifying central counterparty RBA Ratings-Based Approach RCAP Regulatory Consistency Assessment Programme RMBS Residential mortgage-backed securities RWA Risk-weighted assets SFT Securities financing transaction SSFA Simplified Supervisory Formula Approach UL Unexpected loss USC United States Code USD US dollar VaR Value-at-risk
Regulatory Consistency Assessment Programme – United States 3 Preface The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision sets a high priority on the implementation of regulatory standards underpinning the Basel III framework. The prudential benefits of the agreed global reforms can fully accrue only if the Basel minimum requirements are incorporated into member jurisdictions’ regulatory frameworks and implemented appropriately and consistently. In 2011, the Basel Committee established the Regulatory Consistency Assessment Programme (RCAP) to monitor, assess and evaluate its members’ implementation of the Basel framework.
1 This report presents the findings of the RCAP assessment team on the domestic adoption of the Basel risk-based capital standards in the United States and those standards’ consistency with the Basel III framework. The assessment focuses on the adoption of Basel standards applied to the large internationally active US banks, ie the “core banks” of the US banking system. 2 As a sequel to the 2007–08 global financial crisis, US regulatory agencies have undertaken several noteworthy initiatives designed to strengthen the prudential framework relating to bank capital. The agencies issued the final rule on Basel III risk-based capital in July 2013 and brought it into force on 1 January 2014.
A significant number of new rules and policies have also been put in place as a result of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. Given the structural features of the US banking system, including the presence of several large globally and systemically important banks, these are important steps towards ensuring financial stability.
The RCAP assessment team was led by Mark Branson, CEO of the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA). Michael Schoch, Head of Banking Supervision Department of FINMA, acted as deputy team leader. The assessment team consisted of seven technical experts drawn from China, the European Commission, Germany, Italy, Japan, Sweden and the United Kingdom. The main US counterpart for the assessment was the Federal Reserve Board (FRB). The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) were also engaged in the assessment process. The overall work was coordinated by the Basel Committee Secretariat with support from FINMA staff.
The assessment relied upon the data, information and materiality computations provided by the US agencies. The report’s findings are based primarily on an understanding of the current processes in the United States as explained by the counterpart staff and the expert view of the assessment team on the documents and data reviewed.
The assessment began in January 2014 and used data available up to 11 July 2014. It consisted of three phases: (i) completion of an RCAP questionnaire (a self-assessment) by the US agencies (September 2013 to January 2014); (ii) an offand on-site assessment phase (February to June 2014); and (iii) a post-assessment review phase (June to mid-November 2014). The off-and on-site phases included two on-site visits for discussions with the US counterparts and representatives of two US global systemically important banks (G-SIBs). These exchanges gave the assessment team a deeper understanding of the implementation of the Basel risk-based capital standards in the United States.
The third phase consisted of a two-stage technical review of the assessment findings: first by a separate 1 The RCAP assessments aim to ensure that each member jurisdiction adopts the Basel III framework in a manner consistent with the framework’s letter and spirit. The intention is that prudential requirements based on a sound, transparent and well defined set of regulations will help strengthen the international banking system, improve market confidence in regulatory ratios and ensure an international level playing field.
2 See also Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS), Basel III regulatory consistency assessment (Level 2) – Preliminary report: United States of America, October 2012, www.bis.org/bcbs/implementation/l2.htm.
4 Regulatory Consistency Assessment Programme – United States RCAP review team and feedback from the Basel Committee’s Supervision and Implementation Group; and secondly, by the RCAP Peer Review Board and the Basel Committee. This two-step review is a key instrument of the RCAP process to provide quality control and ensure integrity of the assessment findings.
3 The focus of the assessment was limited to the consistency and completeness of the domestic regulations in the United States with the Basel minimum requirements. Issues relating to the integrity of prudential outcomes, capital levels of individual banks, the adequacy of loan classification practices or the US authorities’ supervisory effectiveness were not in the scope of this RCAP assessment exercise. 4 Where domestic regulations and provisions were identified as not conforming with the Basel framework, those deviations were evaluated for their current and potential impact (or negligible impact) on the reported capital ratios for a sample of internationally active US banks.
The assessment also identified some areas where follow-up actions could be taken.
5 This report has three sections and a set of annexes: (i) an executive summary with the statement from the US agencies on the material findings; (ii) the context, scope and methodology, and the main set of assessment findings; and (iii) details of the deviations and their materiality along with other assessment-related observations. The RCAP assessment team is grateful for the professional cooperation it received from all the US counterparts throughout the assessment process. In particular, the team sincerely thanks Michael Gibson, Art Lindo and the staff of the FRB for playing an instrumental role in coordinating the RCAP exercise.
The assessment team would also like to thank the staff of the FDIC and the OCC involved with the RCAP assessment work. The series of comprehensive briefings and clarifications provided by the US counterparts helped the RCAP experts to arrive at their opinions. The team hopes that this RCAP assessment exercise will add to the good initiatives that have already been undertaken by the US agencies and help to further strengthen the prudential effectiveness and full implementation of the various post-crisis reform measures in the US.
3 During the review period, the US authorities issued a notice of proposed rule-making on 18 November 2014 to address a number of findings with regard to the IRB minimum requirements and to increase the overall consistency of the US capital regulations with the Basel standards. The assessment cutoff date was thus extended to end-November 2014 under Basel Committee-approved procedures to allow members to introduce needed regulatory changes. 4 Some of these issues will be covered by ongoing financial system stability assessment work by the IMF and will be completed in 2015, including an assessment of US compliance with the Core principles for effective banking supervision.
5 US compliance with other Basel III standards on liquidity, leverage and systemically important banks (SIBs) will be assessed once they come on-stream as per the globally agreed Basel III timeline.
Regulatory Consistency Assessment Programme – United States 5 Executive summary The US agencies’ new framework for bank risk-based capital requirements came into force on 1 January 2014 via the US final rule. This marked a significant post-crisis strengthening of the US capital regime. Many other initiatives are being developed or are in the early stages of implementation. While the US has implemented a single comprehensive capital framework, different elements of the US risk-based final rule on capital apply to different banking organisations based on their size and international activity.
As a general principle, the Basel standards designed for “internationally active” banks have been adopted in the US using the concept of “core banks”, which are required to adopt the advanced Basel approaches. Overall, and given the planned adoption and implementation of some amendments described in this report that the US regulatory agencies agreed to take and proposed publically, the assessment team finds the risk-based capital requirements in the US to be largely compliant with the minimum standards agreed under the Basel framework. The significance of the reforms undertaken in the US in recent years – some of which are still under way – is evidenced by the assessment team’s view that 11 out of 13 components of the US capital framework comply or largely comply with the Basel framework.
These components include scope of application and transitional arrangements, definition of capital, credit risk, operational risk, and Pillar 2 and 3 requirements relevant for consistent implementation. The assessment team notes the US authorities’ continuing efforts to further strengthen and align the capital rules to the Basel III framework. Likewise, in several areas, the team noted a super-equivalent implementation of the Basel framework. These are detailed in the report but, in accordance with the RCAP assessment methodology approved by the Basel Committee, aspects where US requirements are stricter than the Basel standards were not taken into account in evaluating consistency and in assigning assessment grades.
While the team regards the US rules to be largely compliant overall, material deviations were identified in a number of areas. Two of the 13 Basel components are assessed as materially noncompliant: the securitisation framework and the Standardised Approach for market risk. Regarding the securitisation framework, a number of divergences were identified that for some US core banks lead to materially lower securitisation RWA outcomes than the Basel standard. These differences are mainly related to the prohibition on the use of ratings in the US rules. Pursuant to the Dodd-Frank Act, the US rules cannot include provisions related to the Basel framework’s Ratings-Based Approach (RBA) for securitisations, so the rules provide alternative treatments.
The US agencies note that their alternative approaches are, on average, more conservative than the Basel standards, and are consistent with the G20 objectives of reducing mechanistic reliance on external credit ratings. The assessment team notes that while the securitisation framework represents a deviation at present, the Basel Committee is reviewing it and is likely to approve a framework that should potentially mitigate this deviation. The team acknowledges the US agencies’ agreement to expeditiously consider an amendment to the US securitisation rules once the Basel Committee issues the revised securitisation framework.
The assessment team welcomes this agreement and recommends a follow-up assessment once the US rules have been updated.
Regarding the Standardised Approach for market risk, the assessment team found that the US rules implement on a permanent basis a transitional rule in the Basel framework for securitisations in the trading book. This deviation has a material impact on the capital ratio of a few US core banks. The US agencies indicated that the rule was kept beyond the expiry date, because of the Basel Committee’s fundamental review of the trading book regime. The US agencies agreed to consider changes to the US market risk framework as expeditiously as possible once the BCBS’s fundamental review of the trading book is complete.
For other Basel components, a number of potentially material deviations have been identified, including for the US implementation of the Internal Ratings-Based (IRB) approach for credit risk. This is
6 Regulatory Consistency Assessment Programme – United States due in part to reliance on measurement concepts of US GAAP beyond what is consistent with Basel standards. Also, the US regulatory approach relies substantially on US supervisory processes rather than explicitly incorporating all of the detailed Basel minimum requirements in the formal corpus of regulatory instruments.
As a consequence, in several cases the US rules do not incorporate the specific Basel minimum requirements, in particular for the IRB approach, where the Basel framework explicitly requires demonstration that these minimum requirements have been met. After the assessment was completed, the US agencies publically proposed amendments to the final rule which address a number of missing minimum requirements for the IRB framework. The amendments to the final rule are likely to be finalised in the second quarter of 2015. The US agencies also plan to publish complementary supervisory examination “work programmes” for banks that detail additional clarifications that are not included in the final rule.
These additional regulatory initiatives considerably improved the level of compliance with the Basel IRB minimum standards. In their absence, the assessment of the IRB component would have led to a more conservative result.
The assessment also pointed out some deviations across other aspects of the Basel framework. Most notably, a number of US core banks, including one G-SIB, are still in so-called “parallel run” and therefore report capital ratios that do not include a separate capital charge for operational risk and credit valuation adjustment (CVA). The parallel run is a period during which a bank must show to the satisfaction of its supervisor that it can comply with the relevant standards of the advanced approaches, while the advanced approaches are not yet the basis for determining the capital requirements.
While the assessment team acknowledges that the Basel framework does not explicitly prescribe the parallel run approach and that approval to report under an advanced approach following the parallel run should not be given lightly, it considers that the US approach leads to a protracted period of time during which the capital ratio of some large internationally active US banks is not comparable with those of banks in other jurisdictions.
The team listed a few issues for further guidance from the Basel Committee, including with regard to the definition of capital and the treatment of instruments issued under foreign law. Also, with regard to credit risk, a difference of views emerged on the Basel treatment of fair value assets under the IRB approach. The team would like to ask the Basel Committee to clarify its interpretation of these issues. Looking ahead, the assessment team recommends that the Basel Committee reassess the grading of the US securitisation approach and – to the extent impacted – the overall assessment grading once the US agencies have revised their requirements to meet the new securitisation framework that the Basel Committee adopts.
The team also suggests that the US agencies periodically review the impact of some of the deviations pointed out in the report as part of the Basel Committee’s post-RCAP annual follow-up. Such a follow-up process would review progress made and steps taken to further improve consistency in the implementation of the Basel framework in the US and to ensure that deviations that are currently not material and not rectified do not grow in prudential significance. Further, the assessment team suggests that the IRB requirements be followed up through the post-RCAP follow-up or when another RCAP assessment is undertaken to ensure that they do not assume materiality.
Further, the assessment team suggests that the IRB requirements are followed up through the post RCAP follow– up – or when another RCAP assessment is undertaken – to ensure that they do not assume materiality.
Regulatory Consistency Assessment Programme – United States 7 Response from United States The US banking agencies welcome the opportunity to respond to the Basel Committee on the report’s findings concerning the US implementation of the Basel framework as well as to express our sincere thanks to Mr Mark Branson, Mr Michael Schoch and the Assessment Team for their professionalism and integrity throughout this process. We strongly support the implementation of a globally consistent Basel framework in which member jurisdictions adhere to standards as strong, or stronger than the agreed minimum requirements.
In an effort to further promote the Basel framework’s international implementation as well as to clarify existing US standards, the US agencies have published on 18 November 2014 a proposed rule that would revise elements of the US IRB approach. In addition, the US agencies plan to publish supervisory examination work programmes for banks that clarify supervisory expectations with regard to the implementation of the US IRB approach.
The US agencies concur with the report’s overall rating of largely compliant as well as each of the subcomponent ratings of compliant and largely compliant. These findings indicate that, in the view of the Basel Committee, all provisions of the Basel framework have been satisfied with regard to compliant ratings, or only minor provisions have not been satisfied with regard to the largely compliant ratings. The overall largely compliant rating also confirms that there are no differences that could materially impact financial stability or the international level playing field. The US agencies accept, but do not fully agree with, the report’s finding concerning the US securitisation framework, which is primarily the result of a US statutory prohibition against any reliance on external ratings in US banking regulations.
While this prohibition results in a deviation from the Basel framework, the agencies note that, on average, the US Simplified Supervisory Formula Approach (SSFA) results in a higher capital requirement for US firms than under the Basel RBA. The assessment team noted the: (1) Basel securitisation treatment is currently being revised to implement an approach similar to the US SSFA and (2) US SSFA is consistent with the Financial Stability Board’s (FSB) stated directive of eliminating mechanistic reliance on credit ratings. However, these factors were not taken into account in the subcomponent rating.
Similarly, the US agencies do not fully agree with the finding regarding the US market risk framework. The Basel Committee has been working to significantly revise the market risk framework and the work was expected to be completed prior to the US assessment. The US agencies relied on the Basel Committee to complete its review and revise the framework in a timely manner, which was the primary basis for the US agencies retention of the transitional provisions. Overall, the US agencies believe assessments of this type promote the level playing field among Basel member jurisdictions and improve transparency.
Moreover, they can reveal areas where there are opportunities for improvement in national regulations. We recognise that Basel member jurisdictions are sometimes unable to implement Basel Committee standards to the letter, but we believe it is, nonetheless, important for all member jurisdictions to strive to achieve outcomes that are consistent with, or super-equivalent to, the substance of the Basel framework. The assessment shows that the US agencies have achieved a robust application of the Basel framework in the United States.
8 Regulatory Consistency Assessment Programme – United States 1 Context, scope and main assessment findings 1.1 Context Status of implementation In July 2013, the Federal Reserve System (Federal Reserve) and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) issued final rules to implement in the United States the Basel III risk-based capital regulatory reforms and certain changes required by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank Act). The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) issued a comparable interim final rule in July 2013 and finalised that rule in April 2014.
6 The US agencies have generally chosen to implement the advanced approaches of the Basel framework only for their “core banks”. Currently, there are 15 core banks, ie banks that exceed the threshold of USD 250 billion in total assets or USD 10 billion in on-balance sheet foreign exposures. Eight of the 15 core banks have been designated as global systemically important banks (G-SIBs) (Annex 8). 7 The core banks account for approximately 75% of US banking assets and nearly all of US banks’ foreign exposures (see Annex 9 for an overview of the international reach of US core banks). 8 These banks are required to implement the Basel advanced approaches.
Non-core banks can “opt in” to adopt the Basel advanced approaches.
The core banks are required to work towards implementation of the Basel advanced approaches and become subject to them after they receive approval from the US agencies. On 21 February 2014, eight core banks received permission to use the advanced Basel approaches in the calculation of their capital requirements. 9 Until 1 January 2015, the remaining seven core banks continue to base their capital requirements on the Basel I approach while they await approval. Basel I uses a small number of prescribed risk weights to compute risk-weighted assets.
All US banks adopting the advanced approaches are subject to a permanent capital floor using 100% of risk-weighted assets.
The floor is currently based on the US general risk-based capital rules, which are based on Basel I standards (including the Basel III definition of capital). From 1 January 2015, the floor will be 100% of risk-weighted assets based on the new US standardised approach for credit risk, which is more in line with the Basel standardised approach. However, the US standardised approach 6 Reference: 78 Federal Register 62018 (October 11, 2013), 12 CFR Parts 208, 217 and 225 for the Federal Reserve’s rules and 12 CFR Parts 3, 5, 6, 165 and 167 for the OCC’s rules. See 78 Federal Register 55340 (September 10, 2013) and 12 CFR Parts 303, 308, 324, 327, 333, 337, 347, 349, 360, 362, 363, 364, 365, 390 and 391 for the FDIC’s rules.
7 US banks designated as G-SIBs are (alphabetically): Bank of America, Bank of New York Mellon, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, State Street and Wells Fargo. The total assets of the US banking system are approximately USD 16 trillion. For a ranking and overview of G-SIBs, see www.financialstabilityboard.org/wpcontent/uploads/r_141106b.pdf. The G-SIBs hold more than 60% of the total assets of the US banking sector. 8 Aside from the core banks, approximately 20 other US banks have international exposures, the sizes typically being very small. According to the FRB, the total amount of foreign assets not covered by Basel standards would be less than 3% of total foreign assets held by US banks.
9 The eight US bank holding companies that have received approval to exit the parallel run are Bank of New York Mellon, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, Northern Trust, State Street and US Bancorp. These firms will use the Basel advanced approaches framework to calculate and publicly disclose their risk-based capital ratios starting with the second quarter of 2014. Under the US capital rules, these firms must meet the minimum risk-based capital ratios under both the advanced approaches and the generally applicable risk-based capital frameworks. See www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/press/bcreg/20140221a.htm.
Regulatory Consistency Assessment Programme – United States 9 excludes a capital charge for operational risk and CVA (see Section 1.4 and Annex 15 for further discussion). 10 Status of approval of Basel advanced approaches Number of banks, end-March 2014 Table 1 Core banks with advanced approaches approved by US authorities Core banks in parallel run* Credit risk (IRB) 8 7 Counterparty credit risk (IMM) 8 7 Advanced CVA 8 7 Operational risk (AMA) 8 7 Number of US banks subject to the market risk rule 43 (29 Board-supervised, 13 OCC-supervised, 1 FDIC-supervised) Of which: core banks 15 * Core banks in parallel run are not subject to explicit capital charges for operational risk and CVA risk.
Regulatory system and model of supervision The United States operates under a dual banking system in which a bank may choose to be chartered by the federal government or by a state. Banks chartered at the state level are subject to supervision by both federal and state supervisors. Every US bank is subject to regulation, supervision and examination by a primary federal banking supervisor:
for national banks and federal savings banks: the OCC
for state banks that choose to be members of the Federal Reserve System (state member banks) and bank holding companies: the Federal Reserve
for state banks that choose not to become members of the Federal Reserve System (nonmember banks): the FDIC 1.2 Structure, enforceability and binding nature of prudential regulations The US federal banking agencies have the authority to regulate and supervise banks and bank holding companies subject to their jurisdiction. The hierarchy of prudential regulation in the United States is as follows: 11 10 The floor is based on 100% of the new US standardised approach, and includes RWA for credit risk, market risk and securitisation and equity exposures. Similar to the Basel I floor in the Basel framework, the US standardised approach floor does not include RWA for CVA and operational risk. The resulting capital ratio is used to assess capital adequacy including under the US prompt corrective action framework, which establishes categories of capitalisation based on regulatory ratio requirements. Depending on the category of capitalisation, US regulatory agencies are required to take certain mandatory actions, except for “well capitalised” banking entities (other than bank holding companies).
10 Regulatory Consistency Assessment Programme – United States (i) Federal statutes and legislative mandates, authorising the federal banking agencies to establish minimum capital requirements, capital adequacy standards (both for risk-based and leverage capital requirements), and safety and soundness standards. 12 (ii) Regulations 13 and reporting requirements 14 that set out the capital adequacy rules and safety and soundness requirements issued by the federal banking agencies. (iii) Policy statements, interpretations, supervisory guidance and manuals that address significant prudential policy and procedural matters.
15 The agencies also use supervisory examination work programmes to help ensure that examiner assessments are consistently developed. These programmes provide more specific direction on how the standards and principles set forth in regulations, regulatory preambles or public guidance should be implemented. Certain Basel principles and requirements are therefore articulated in these work programmes because they are considered more appropriately reviewed and enforced during the examination process by the federal banking agencies. These documents are generally not public, but are often shared with banking organisations in order to make firms aware of supervisory expectations and to assist them in complying with the minimum regulatory requirements (see also Annex 12).
The assessment team examined the binding nature of the various regulatory documents issued by US agencies using the criteria applied in RCAP assessments (Annex 7). As a general principle, RCAP assessments only take into consideration documents that implement the Basel framework and set the Basel standards out in a manner that provides a formal basis for regulators, banks and associated third parties to ensure compliance with the minimum requirements. This also helps promote a level playing field and a consistent approach across Basel Committee members. Based on the assessment of these criteria, the assessment team concluded that the regulatory documents mentioned above, other than the work programmes, are eligible for the purpose of this assessment.
11 In some cases, the US federal banking agencies have the discretion to determine the most effective form (eg regulations, reporting requirements, guidelines, supervisory guidance and interpretations) in which to promulgate revised or new requirements. Depending on the nature of the issues to be addressed, changes may be made as part of the agencies’ regular, periodic review of regulations or issuance of interim final rules, or may occur through the development and issuance of policy statements or guidelines.
12 The federal statutes are consolidated and codified in the United States Code (USC).
Most of the relevant banking laws are found under Title 12, “Banks and Banking”. State-chartered banks must also comply with applicable state law for certain banking activities. Disputes regarding the validity of a law and conflicts between federal and state laws are resolved by the courts. Both federal and state laws are considered valid until challenged and declared otherwise. 13 The regulations are contained in the annual Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) along with any proposed or finalised amendments published in the daily Federal Register and publicly available on the agencies’ websites.
See 12 CFR 3 (national banks); 12 CFR 325.3, 12 CFR Part 325, appendices A, C and D (state non-member banks); 12 CFR Part 208, appendixes A, B, E and F (state member banks); 12 CFR Part 217 (state member banks, bank holding companies, and savings and loan holding companies); 12 CFR Part 225, appendixes A, B, D, E and G (bank holding companies); and 12 CFR Part 567 (savings associations).
14 In terms of reporting requirements, the US federal banking agencies have authority to obtain financial, structural and any other information from banks and any of their affiliates. The reporting instructions allow the federal banking agencies to implement detailed interpretations of the capital framework through accurate reporting. Institutions are subject to potentially significant monetary penalties for failure to make available information or reports, to submit reports on a timely basis, or for submitting or publishing any false or misleading report or information.
15 For general supervisory guidance, the Federal Reserve issues Supervision and Regulation Letters; the OCC issues Bulletins; and the FDIC issues Financial Institution Letters.
All of these disseminate information to banking supervision staff and supervised banking organisations, and are available on the agencies’ websites.
Regulatory Consistency Assessment Programme – United States 11 1.3 Scope of the assessment Scope The assessment team has considered all documents that effectively implement the risk-based Basel capital framework in the United States as of end-November 2014. This includes the notice of proposed rulemaking rectifying some of the assessment findings issued by US agencies on 18 November 2014 (Annex 4). The assessment focused on two dimensions:
a comparison of domestic regulations with the capital standards under the Basel framework to ascertain that all the required provisions have been adopted (completeness of the US domestic regulation); and
differences in substance between the domestic regulations and the capital standards under the Basel framework and their significance (consistency of the US regulation). Importantly, the assessment did not evaluate the adequacy of capital or resilience of the banking system in the United States, or the US agencies’ supervisory effectiveness. Identified deviations were assessed for their materiality (current and potential, or having an insignificant impact) using both quantitative and qualitative information. For potential materiality, in addition to the available data, the assessment used expert judgement on whether the domestic regulations met the Basel framework in letter and spirit (see Section 1.4). Bank coverage For the assessment of materiality of identified deviations, the US agencies provided data and materiality computations covering the 15 US core banks on a best efforts basis, and focusing on those banks for which the identified deviations are most relevant.
16 The team assessed that these banks cover more than 95% of total foreign exposures and deposits held by US banks (Annex 8). Overview of the US banking sector Table 2 Total assets* (Q4 2013, USD trillions) Foreign exposure (Q4 2013, USD trillions) Off-balance sheet exposures** (Q4 2013, USD trillions) All US banking institutions 18.1 3.4 313 G-SIBs 10.3 3.2 302 Core banks (including G-SIBs) 12.1 3.3 310 * Not including off-balance sheet assets. ** Off-balance sheet exposure includes unused commitments, financial standby letters of credit and foreign office guarantees, performance standby letters of credit and foreign office guarantees, commercial and similar letters of credit, securities lent, notional amounts of credit derivatives, spot foreign exchange contracts, all other off-balance sheet items (excluding derivatives) and total gross notional amounts of derivative contracts (including interest rate, foreign exchange, equity and commodity contracts).
Source: Federal Reserve. 16 Data from the following core banks were collected (alphabetically): American Express, Bank of America, Bank of New York Mellon, Capital One, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, HSBC North America, JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley, Northern Trust, PNC, State Street, TD Bank, US Bancorp and Wells Fargo. For practical purposes, and within the limits set by the Freedom of Information Act, for individual findings regulatory data were typically collected from nine core banks. The nine banks were separately selected by US authorities based on the materiality of the finding for affected exposures and relevance of the banks’ business models.
12 Regulatory Consistency Assessment Programme – United States Assessment grading and methodology As per the RCAP methodology approved by the Basel Committee, the outcome of the assessment was summarised using a four-grade scale, both at the level of each of the 14 key components of the Basel framework and as an overall assessment of compliance: compliant, largely compliant, materially noncompliant or non-compliant. 17 The materiality of the deviations was assessed in terms of their current or, where applicable, potential future impact (or negligible impact) on the banks’ capital ratios. The quantification was, however, limited to the agreed population of internationally active banks.
Wherever relevant and feasible, the assessment team, together with the US authorities, attempted to quantify the impact based on data collected from US banks in the agreed sample of banks (Annex 8). The non-quantifiable aspects of identified deviations were discussed and reviewed in the context of the prevailing regulatory practices and processes with the US authorities.
Ultimately, the assignment of the assessment grades was guided by the assessment team’s collective expert judgement. In assigning grades, the assessment team relied on the general principle that the burden of proof rests with the assessed jurisdiction to show that a finding is not material or not potentially material. Section 2 and Annex 9 summarise the materiality analysis. In a number of areas, the US rules go beyond the minimum Basel standards. Although these elements provide for a more rigorous implementation of the Basel framework in some respects, they have not been taken into account for the assessment of compliance under the RCAP methodology as per the agreed assessment methodology (Annex 10 lists areas of super-equivalence).
1.4 Main findings The US agencies have made – and continue to make – significant progress in introducing strengthened requirements that apply to their large, internationally active banks. Overall, the US requirements largely meet the Basel minimum standards. That said, the assessment team identified some material departures from the Basel framework as well as many other deviations that are minor in terms of materiality. Of the 13 components assessed, two are graded as materially non-compliant, namely the securitisation framework and the Standardised Approach for market risk. Four components are graded as largely compliant, and seven components as compliant.
One component was not applicable to the US (see details and other assessment observations in Section 2).
In determining the overall grade, the assessment team also took account of the follow-up actions and agreements made by the US agencies to further harmonise the US rules with the Basel standards. In particular, the US agencies have undertaken a comprehensive response that will help increase consistency of implementation with the Basel IRB standards. The clarification of a number of IRB minimum requirements in the US rules text will help make explicit several aspects that are being implemented through non-public supervisory work programmes. The publication of two key supervisory work programmes in the first half of 2015 will be another meaningful step towards improving the transparency and predictability of US IRB requirements.
The proposed rules text amendments – which are public – have the agreement of the US agencies and are expected to become effective shortly after the agencies complete their due process requirements in 2015. Based on these – and given the nature of 17 This four-grade scale is consistent with the approach used for assessing countries’ compliance with the Basel Committee’s Core principles for effective banking supervision. The actual definition of the four grades has been adjusted to take into account the different nature of the two exercises. In addition, components of the Basel framework that are not relevant to an individual jurisdiction may be assessed as not applicable (na).
See www.bis.org/publ/bcbs264.htm for further details.
Regulatory Consistency Assessment Programme – United States 13 the deviations – the team has taken a view that the US IRB framework is “largely compliant.” In the absence of the steps taken by the US agencies which will come on stream during 2015, the assessment team would have taken a more conservative position. The team has identified the IRB requirements for follow-up by the RCAP. Further, the agencies agreed to consider changes as soon as possible to the US securitisation framework upon finalisation of the new standard by the Basel Committee. The assessment team used both quantitative impact data and expert judgement to derive the assessment grades.
Based on data received from US regulatory agencies, material deviations were identified regarding the securitisation framework and market risk Standardised Approach. The impact is mainly driven by findings related to the approaches US agencies have introduced as alternatives to the use of external credit ratings (see below) and the permanent use of a transitional arrangement for securitisation positions in the trading book. In addition, a number of potentially material deviations have been identified with regard to the definition of capital and the US agencies’ adoption of the IRB standards.
A considerable number of non-quantifiable deviations have also been identified which, taken together, are considered to render a potentially material impact on the calculation of capital ratios by US core banks.
The main findings are summarised below. These should be read along with the list of detailed findings and observations in Section 2. The gaps rectified during the assessment process are listed in Annex 6. Summary assessment grading Table 3 Key components of the Basel capital framework Grade Overall grade: LC Scope of application C Transitional arrangements C Pillar 1: Minimum capital requirements Definition of capital and calculation of minimum capital requirements LC Capital buffers (conservation and countercyclical) C Credit risk: Standardised Approach LC Credit risk: Internal Ratings-Based Approach LC Credit risk: Securitisation framework MNC Counterparty credit risk framework LC Market risk: Standardised Measurement Method MNC Market risk: Internal Models Approach C Operational risk: Basic Indicator Approach and Standardised Approach NA Operational risk: Advanced Measurement Approaches C Pillar 2: Supervisory review process Legal and regulatory framework for the Supervisory Review Process and for taking supervisory actions C Pillar 3: Market discipline Disclosure requirements C Compliance assessment scale (see Section 1.3 for more information on the definition of the grades): C = compliant; LC = largely compliant; MNC = materially non-compliant; NC = non-compliant.
One Basel component has been assessed as not applicable (na) as it has not been implemented by the US regulatory agencies.
14 Regulatory Consistency Assessment Programme – United States Main findings by component Scope of application The Basel standards have been designed for “internationally active” banks. 18 However, the term “internationally active” is not specifically defined in the Basel text, leaving its implementation to the discretion of national authorities. In the United States, the agencies require “core banks” (as described above) to adopt the advanced Basel standards. Other banks may request to adopt the Basel advanced approaches (such banks are referred to as “opt-in banks”). All banks in the United States remain subject to the general US risk-based capital rules.
The definition of core banks includes: First, any depository institution (DI) meeting either of the following two criteria: (i) consolidated total assets of USD 250 billion or more; or (ii) consolidated total on-balance sheet foreign exposure of USD 10 billion or more. Second, any US-chartered bank holding company (BHC) meeting any of the following three criteria: (i) consolidated total assets (excluding assets held by an insurance underwriting subsidiary) of USD 250 billion or more; (ii) consolidated total onbalance sheet foreign exposure of USD 10 billion or more; or (iii) having a subsidiary DI that is a core bank or opt-in bank.
Finally, any DI that is a subsidiary of a core or opt-in bank holding company is also considered a core bank.
According to information provided by the US regulatory agencies, the banking organisations subject to Basel standards account for nearly all of the international exposures held by US banking organisations (Annex 8). This holds for foreign exposures, foreign deposits, foreign liabilities, number of foreign offices and assets under management held in foreign offices. Therefore, the team considers the US scope of application of Basel standards to be compliant with the Basel Committee’s intended scope of application.
Transitional arrangements The Basel framework prescribes a capital floor based on 80% of the Basel I approach for banks that apply the advanced approaches for calculating capital requirements for credit risk (IRB) and operational risk (AMA).
The US core banks that have exited parallel run are required to calculate a floor based on 100% of the new US standardised approach. The US agencies have explained that for a typical US bank the US floor will be at least as conservative as the Basel I floor. 19 While it cannot be excluded that under extraordinary circumstances the US floor may be less conservative than the Basel floor, taking into account the enhanced quality and volume of regulatory capital of Basel III relative to Basel I as well as the improved general conservatism of the calculation of RWA, the assessment team agrees with the US regulatory agencies that this is unlikely to happen in practice.
20 The team also notes that Basel II paragraph 49 states that “supervisors should have the flexibility to develop appropriate bank-by-bank floors that are consistent with the principles outlined in this paragraph.” The US rules are assessed as compliant with the overall Basel III transitional arrangements. 18 Paragraph 20 of Basel II notes that “(the) Framework will be applied on a consolidated basis to internationally active banks”. See BCBS, Basel II: international convergence of capital measurement and capital standards: a revised framework – comprehensive version, June 2006, www.bis.org/publ/bcbs128.htm.
19 Dodd-Frank Section 171 requires that any new US capital rule be at least as strenuous as the general risk-based capital rules (based on Basel I) that were effective on the date of enactment. 20 Note that both the Basel I standard and the US standardised approach do not have a separate charge for operational risk and CVA risk and, thus, do not deviate from each other. This fact is being addressed in the assessment of the corresponding operational risk and CVA risk components.
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