The Federal Reserve announced Monday that it is extending the stress test filing deadline by one year for some of the nation’s largest banks.
Once a year, the Fed conducts a comprehensive capital analysis and review that evaluates the capital planning processes and capital adequacy of the largest U.S. banks, including the firms’ planned capital actions, such as dividend payments and share buybacks. Strong capital levels act as a cushion to absorb losses and help ensure that banking organizations have the ability to lend to households and businesses even in times of stress.
Banks are required to submit this information in the form of resolution plans by the end of each year. This year, the Fed passed all banks except one, DB USA Corp., a wholly owned subsidiary of Deutsche Bank, and gave conditional approval to two others, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley.
Last year, for the second year in a row, all of the nation’s largest financial institutions passed their stress tests, meaning each company has enough capital on hand to survive a “severe recession.”
But this year, word began circling that the Fed intended to change up some of its rules, including eliminating the pass or fail method of grading the banks.
Now, the Fed announced it is extending the filing deadline for 14 domestic firms by one year to December 31, 2019. It explained this additional time will allow the banks to provide feedback on their last submissions and produce their next submissions.
Resolution plans, required by the Dodd-Frank Act and commonly known as living wills, describe an institution's strategy for rapid and orderly resolution under bankruptcy in the event of material financial distress or failure.
The 14 large banks that will receive the filing deadline include: Ally Financial, American Express, BB&T Corp., Capital One Financial Corp., Citizens Financial, Fifth Third Bancorp, Huntington Bancshares, KeyCorp, M&T Bank Corp., Northern Trust Corp., Regions Financial Corp., SunTrust Banks, The PNC Financial Services Group, and U.S. Bancorp.
The Fed also announced that due to the newly passed Economic Growth, Regulatory Reform and Consumer Protection law, banks with less than $100 billion in total consolidated assets are no longer subject to resolution plan requirements.
The Federal Reserve will also begin deciding which bank, with total consolidated assets between $100 billion and $250 billion, will be subject to the resolution plan requirement moving forward.
