WASHINGTON (5/9/14)--Proposed Federal Reserve rules that would prohibit insured depository institutions and other financial firms from combining with another company in certain cases are now open for public comment.
The Fed proposal would specifically prohibit firms from combining if the ratio of the resulting financial company's liabilities exceeds 10% of the aggregate consolidated liabilities of all financial companies, the Fed said. The Fed would also measure and disclose the aggregate liabilities of financial companies annually and would calculate aggregate liabilities as a two-year average, under the proposal.
Bank holding companies, savings and loan holding companies, foreign banking organizations, companies that control insured depository institutions, and nonbank financial companies designated by the Financial Stability Oversight Council for Fed supervision would also be subject to the rule.
For the purposes of the Fed rule, liabilities are defined as the difference between an institution's risk-weighted assets, as adjusted to reflect exposures deducted from regulatory capital, and its total regulatory capital. Firms not subject to consolidated risk-based capital rules would measure liabilities using generally accepted accounting standards, the Fed said.
Comments on the proposal will be accepted until July 8. For more, use the resource link.