Dodd-Frank Act Rulemakings, Studies, and Reports Library

• The CFTC issued a final rule and interim final rule establishing initial and variation margin requirements.
• The Federal Reserve issued a final rule establishing policies and procedures with respect to emergency lending under Federal Reserve Act section 13(3).
• The SEC proposed a rule on disclosure of payments by resource extraction issuers.

The Federal Reserve proposed a rule to require global systemically important banks (GSIBs) to hold sufficient amounts of long-term debt that is convertible to equity during a bank’s resolution, to provide private capital to support the firms' critical operations during resolution.  The proposal would also require the banks to meet a total loss-absorbing capacity (TLAC) that can be met with both regulatory capital and long-term debt.  Domestic GSIBs would be required to hold at a minimum:

• A long-term debt amount of the greater of 6 percent plus its GSIB surcharge of risk-weighted assets and 4.5 percent of total leverage exposure; and
• A TLAC amount of the greater of 18 percent of risk-weighted assets and 9.5 percent of total leverage exposure.

The U.S. operations of foreign GSIBs generally would be required to hold at a minimum:

• A long-term debt amount of the greater of 7 percent of risk-weighted assets and 3 percent of total leverage exposure and 4 percent of average total consolidated assets; and
• A TLAC amount of the greater of 16 percent of risk-weighted assets and 6 percent of total leverage exposure and 8 percent of average total consolidated assets.

The proposal also would require the parent holding company of a domestic GSIB to avoid issuing short-term debt to external investors and entering into derivatives and certain other financial contracts with external counterparties. 

This is an updated Roadmap to the Dodd-Frank Act Rulemakings, Studies, and Reports.

• The federal banking agencies, Farm Credit Administration, and FHFA adopted joint final rules to establish initial and variation margin requirements and capital requirements for non-cleared swaps, applicable to registered swap dealers, major swap participants, security-based swap dealers, and major security-based swap participants that these agencies regulate. 

• The CFPB finalized a HMDA regulation specifying several new data items lenders will be required to report about mortgage loans.  The rule does not specify how much of the information will be public.  The CFPB will accept public input on the privacy issues at a future time.

• The CFTC supplemented an earlier proposed regulation to modify its aggregation rules for position limits, addressing aggregation for futures and option contracts on nine agricultural commodities, to address when aggregation is required based on ownership of more than half of another entity.

• The FDIC proposed a surcharge on the quarterly assessments of insured institutions with consolidated assets over $10 billion when the deposit insurance fund’s reserve ratio is between 1.15 and 1.35 percent.

Attached please find an updated Roadmap to the Dodd-Frank Act Rulemakings, Studies, and Reports.

• The CFPB announced it released a Settlement Cost Booklet in Spanish.
• The CFPB finalized an amendment to its definitions of small creditor and rural and underserved areas, for purposes of exemptions from mortgage rules.
• The CFTC proposed to amend its definition of “material terms” for purposes of swap portfolio reconciliation.
• The SEC finalized a rule to remove credit rating references from its rule 2a-7, the principal rule that governs money market funds.

Regards, 

Canfield Press

Attached please find an updated Roadmap to the Dodd-Frank Act Rulemakings, Studies, and Reports.

• The CFTC proposed clarifying amendments to its rules on swap data recordkeeping and reporting requirements for cleared swaps.
• The SEC proposed a rule requiring security-based swap data repositories to make data available to certain regulators and other authorities, and would set forth a conditional exemption from the statutory indemnification requirement associated with that regulatory access provision.
• The SEC released its final pay ratio disclosure rule.
• The SEC proposed a rule by which a security-based swap entity can apply to the SEC for an order permitting an associated person who is subject to a statutory disqualification to effect or be involved in effecting security-based swaps on behalf of the entity.

Regards, 

Canfield Press

Attached please find an updated Roadmap to the Dodd-Frank Act Rulemakings, Studies, and Reports.

• The CFPB released its policy for publishing consumer complaint narratives and proposes to publish complements.
• The CFPB solicits comment on the credit card market.
• The CFTC reopened for public comment the cost benefit analyses of eight regulations in response to a judicial challenge, SIFMA et al. v. CFTC, 13-1916 (D.D.C. Sept. 14, 2014).  The rules are: real-time reporting; SDR reporting; swap entity registration rule; daily trading records, risk management, and chief compliance officer rules; entity definition rule; historical SDR reporting rule; portfolio reconciliation rule; and swap entity registration.
• The CFTC published a rule to remove the December 31, 2018 automatic termination date for the phased-in compliance schedule for futures commission merchants and to provide assurance that the residual interest deadline will only be revised through a separate rulemaking.
• The SEC proposes a rule to require issuers to disclose in any proxy or consent solicitation material for an annual meeting whether any employee or board member is permitted to hedge or offset any decrease in the market value of equity securities either granted to the person as compensation or held by the employee or director.
• The SEC proposed a regulation to require a national securities exchange or security-based swap execution facility to report to a registered security-based swap data repository (SDR) a security-based swap executed on the platform that will be submitted to clearing and to require a registered clearing agency to report to a registered SDR any security-based swap to which it is a counterparty.
• The SEC finalized two new rules to require security-based swap data repositories to register with the SEC and prescribe reporting and public dissemination requirements for security-based swap transaction data.  The SEC also proposed certain additional rules, rule amendments and guidance related to the reporting and public dissemination of security-based swap transaction data.  Regulation SBSR and SDR registration.

Regards, 

Canfield Press

Attached please find an updated Roadmap to the Dodd-Frank Act Rulemakings, Studies, and Reports.

• The CFPB proposed amendments to Regulations E and Z regarding prepaid financial products to require disclosures, apply limited liability and error resolution procedures, and to protect consumers from unauthorized transfers.  It would apply to prepaid cards but not gift cards.  
• The CFTC reopened the comment periods for an aggregation proposal and a position limits proposal both released in 2013, until January 22, 2015.
• Treasury proposed regulations to require qualified financial contract recordkeeping with respect to positions, counterparties, legal documentation, and collateral.  The Dodd-Frank Act provides that if the federal primary financial regulatory agencies do not prescribe such regulations to assist the FDIC as receiver to exercise its rights and fulfill its obligations within 24 months of enactment, which they did not, the FSOC Chairperson must.

Regards, 

Canfield Press

Attached please find an updated Roadmap to the Dodd-Frank Act Rulemakings, Studies, and Reports.  

• The Federal Insurance Office released a report entitled The Breadth and Scope of the Global Reinsurance Market and the Critical Role Such Market Plays in Supporting Insurance in the United States.  The report states that a substantial portion of reinsurance supporting the U.S. insurance sector is provided by companies not licensed in all states and, in many cases, neither domiciled nor licensed in the U.S.  It states that non-U.S. reinsurers accepting reinsurance premium ceded from U.S. insurers are not subject to the same state supervision applicable to licensed or accredited U.S. insurers and reinsurers.  Such reinsurers are indirectly regulated by state laws requiring that, to obtain “credit for reinsurance,” the non-U.S. reinsurer must post collateral for reinsurance liabilities, but state law is varied.  Treasury and the U.S. Trade Representative are considering an agreement with respect to collateral requirements for reinsurers and preemption of state laws.   

Regards, 

Canfield Press

Attached please find an updated Roadmap to the Dodd-Frank Act Rulemakings, Studies, and Reports.

• FSOC designated MetLife as systemically important, subjecting it to Federal Reserve supervision and enhanced prudential standards.  The vote was nine to one, and the dissenting view is here.
• FSOC solicits comment on whether asset management products and activities, of any entities or investment vehicles, may pose risks to the U.S. financial system in the areas of liquidity and redemptions, leverage, operational functions, and resolution, or in other areas.
• The FDIC released guidance for resolution plans for banks and thrifts with assets greater than $50 billion.  Under the guidance, a covered institution must provide a fully developed discussion and analysis of a range of realistic resolution strategies, with at least one strategy that primarily involves the separation and sale of the institution's deposit franchise, core business lines, and/or major assets to multiple acquirers. It should also include a second strategy that involves the liquidation of the firm, including a payout of insured deposits.  
• The Federal Reserve announced that it extended the compliance date for the Volcker rule with respect to legacy covered funds, meaning covered funds and foreign funds that were in place prior to December 31, 2013.  Banking entities have until July 21, 2016, to conform investments in and relationships with legacy covered funds.  Next year, the Board it will grant an additional one-year extension of the conformance period until July 21, 2017.  

Compliance was originally to be required July 21, 2014.  The Dodd-Frank Act permits the Federal Reserve to extend the deadline one year at a time up to three years, and in December 2013 when the agencies adopted the rule, the Board extended the date until July 21, 2015.  In April 2014, the Board stated that it intended to grant two one-year extensions of the conformance period with respect to ownership interests in and sponsorship activities of CLOs backed in part by non-loan assets and that were in place as of December 31, 2013.  The Board now extends the conformance period for other types of legacy covered funds.

All investments and relationships in a covered fund made after December 31, 2013, must be in conformance by July 21, 2015.  This extension would not apply to proprietary trading activities, and banking entities must conform proprietary trading activities to the final rule by July 21, 2015.

• GAO released a report on Dodd-Frank regulations, entitled Regulators’ Analytical and Coordination Efforts.  The report states that GAO focused particularly on coordination efforts involving the Volcker rule and rules related to regulation of the swaps market.  For the Volcker rule, interagency coordination led regulators to adopt a common rule and regulators voluntarily have continued coordination efforts during rule implementation.  For swaps rulemakings, regulators coordinated domestically and internationally but this did not always result in harmonized rules, and key differences among some rules have raised compliance and market efficiency concerns among market participants, industry associations, and foreign regulators with whom GAO spoke.

Regards, 

Canfield Press

Attached please find an updated Roadmap to the Dodd-Frank Act Rulemakings, Studies, and Reports.

• The Comptroller finalized a rule that adjusts the timing of its annual stress testing cycle by three months and that clarifies how the agency calculates regulatory capital in the stress tests.

• The Federal Reserve proposed a capital regulation to identify whether a U.S. bank holding company is a global systemically important banking organization (“GSIB”). A GSIB would be subject to a risk-based capital surcharge based on its systemic risk profile.  Eight U.S. firms would currently be GSIBs: Bank of America Corporation, The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation, Citigroup Inc., The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co., Morgan Stanley, State Street Corporation, and Wells Fargo & Company.  

The first method would consider the GSIB's size, interconnectedness, cross-jurisdictional activity, substitutability, and complexity, consistent with a methodology developed by the Basel Committee.  The second method would replace substitutability with use of short-term wholesale funding, and would generally result in significantly higher surcharges than the BCBS framework.  Under the proposal, estimated surcharges for bank holding companies that are GSIBs currently would range from 1.0 to 4.5 percent of total risk-weighted assets.

Regards, 

Canfield Press

Attached please find an updated Roadmap to the Dodd-Frank Act Rulemakings, Studies, and Reports.

• The Federal Insurance Office released its second annual report on the insurance industry, discussing consumer protection and access to insurance, including affordability of personal auto insurance; portability of auto insurance for servicemembers; force-placed insurance for homeowners; and topics concerning life insurance and annuities.  The Report also addresses a range of regulatory developments over the past year.
• The NCUA repealed its regulations governing unfair or deceptive acts or practices because the Dodd-Frank Act repealed the agency’s rulemaking authority under the FTC Act.  The NCUA noted it still has supervisory and enforcement authority regarding unfair or deceptive acts or practices, as violations of the Dodd-Frank Act or FTC Act, which could include the practices previously addressed in its repealed rule.

Regards,

Canfield Press

The President signed the Examination and Supervisory Privilege Parity Act, amending the Dodd Frank Act.  This law does two things:

1)     It amends Dodd Frank § 1024 (CFPB supervision of nondepositories) to require the CFPB to coordinate its supervisory activities with state agencies that license, supervise, or examine those who offer consumer financial products or services.  Before this amendment, the CFPB was only required to coordinate with prudential regulators and state banking regulators.

2)     It provides that when someone shares information with all those same state regulators, or with prudential regulators and state banking regulators, that sharing does not waive privileges.  This covers information a financial services provider provides to a regulator, or that one regulator shares with another regulator.  Typically, if information is subject to the attorney-client privilege, and it goes to anyone other than the attorney or client, the privilege is waived as to all persons.  As a result, financial services providers may be reluctant to provide information to regulators.  Regulators also assert supervisory privilege over information they obtain, and can be reluctant to share the information with each other, for fear of waiving their privileges. 

This amendment is limited to nondepositories because Congress earlier enacted an analogous protection for depositories, by amending the Federal Deposit Insurance Act.  That was Public Law No. 112-215, enacted December 20, 2012.

Canfield Press

Attached please find an updated Roadmap to the Dodd-Frank Act Rulemakings, Studies, and Reports.

• The CFPB issued a final rule defining a larger participants in the remittance transfers market.  The rule defines a nonbank covered person as a larger participant if it has at least one million aggregate annual international money transfers.
• The CFPB proposed a rule to define larger participants of a market for automobile financing.  The rule would define the market to include auto purchase loans, refinances of such loans, leases, and purchases or acquisitions of these loans or leases.  The rule would define certain automobile leases as a “financial product or service” over which the CFPB would have regulatory authority.  The rule would define a nonbank covered person that engages in automobile financing as a larger participant of this market if the person has at least 10,000 aggregate annual originations, and is not predominantly engaged in the sale and servicing of motor vehicles, the leasing and servicing of motor vehicles, or both.
• The CFPB extended a temporary provision that permits insured institutions to estimate certain remittance transfer pricing disclosures by five years from July 21, 2015, to July 21, 2020.
• The CFTC proposed a rule to address margin requirements for uncleared swaps entered into by swap dealers or major swap participants.  The rule would not apply to those regulate by a prudential regulator.  The rule would impose margin requirements on trades between a covered swap entity and a swap dealer or major swap participant, and trades between a covered swap entity and financial end users.  There would not be a margin requirement on commercial end users.  The rule would permit $65 million threshold below which margin need not be collected.
• The CFTC finalized a rule that amends the definition of the term “swap dealer” to permit a person to exclude certain types of swaps entered into with special entities that are utilities from the $25 million special entity de minimis threshold above which a person dealing in such swaps must register as a swap dealer.

Regards,

Canfield Press

~~Attached please find an updated Roadmap to the Dodd-Frank Act Rulemakings, Studies, and Reports.
• The SEC proposed a rule to provide that certain communications involving security-based swaps, that only eligible contract participants may purchase, will not be deemed to be offers, or guarantees of the swaps that are securities.  Under the proposed rule, publishing price quotes relating to such swaps, traded on an eligible platform, would not be an offer for purposes of § 5 of the Securities Act.  Market participants would still need to determine whether a registration exemption under the Securities Act is available.
Regards,
Canfield Press

Attached please find an updated Roadmap to the Dodd-Frank Act Rulemakings, Studies, and Reports.

• The banking agencies, FHFA, and the Farm Credit Administration reproposed a rule that would establish margin requirements for swap dealers and major swap participants.  Initial and variation margin would not be required for nonfinancial end users.  The proposed rule would also not require posting collateral below a $65 million threshold.  The agencies reproposed the rule because it differs significantly from their 2011 proposal.

• The banking agencies finalized a liquidity coverage ratio rule that requires a company subject to the rule to maintain an amount of high-quality liquid assets that is at least 100% of its total net cash outflows over a prospective 30 calendar-day period.  The rule applies to large and internationally active banking organizations.

• The SEC finalized a rule to enhance NRSRO governance, to protect against conflicts of interest, and increase transparency.  It requires disclosure of credit rating performance statistics, procedures to protect the integrity and transparency of rating methodologies, disclosures to promote the transparency of credit ratings, and standards for training, experience, and competence of credit analysts.  The requirements provide for an annual certification by the CEO as to the effectiveness of internal controls and additional certifications to accompany credit ratings attesting that the rating was not influenced by other business activities.  The rule requires issuers, underwriters, and third-party due diligence services to promote the transparency of the findings and conclusions of third-party due diligence regarding asset-backed securities.

Regards,

Canfield Press

Attached please find an updated Roadmap to the Dodd-Frank Act Rulemakings, Studies, and Reports.

• The SEC finalized rules governing the disclosure, reporting, and offering process for ABS.  The rules require loan-level disclosure for certain assets, such as residential and commercial mortgages and automobile loans.  The rules provide more time for investors to review and consider a securitization offering, revise the eligibility criteria for using shelf offerings, and revise reporting requirements.

Regards,

Canfield Press

Attached please find an updated Roadmap to the Dodd-Frank Act Rulemakings, Studies, and Reports.

• The CFPB proposed expanded HMDA reporting requirements.
• The CFPB released an interpretive rule that the ability-to-repay rule applies to assumptions when a creditor expressly agrees in writing to accept a new consumer as primary obligor on an existing mortgage loan that finances the acquisition or construction of the consumer’s principal dwelling.
• The CFPB released Policy Guidance on mortgage brokers and mini-correspondent lending.  The CFPB is concerned about mortgage brokers’ interest in becoming mini-correspondent lenders, thereby possibly altering the application of certain rules.
  • Mortgage brokers’ compensation must be disclosed GFE and HUD-1, but investor payments to lenders for secondary market transactions is excluded.
  • Compensation to a mortgage broker is included in QM points and fees.  Interest paid to a creditor is excluded form points and fees.
  • Mortgage brokers may not receive compensation from a creditor and consumer in the same transaction, and mortgage brokers may not receive compensation based on loan terms.  

The CFPB is concerned that some mortgage brokers are transitioning to mini-correspondent lenders, such as by closing loans in their own names and funding loans through a warehouse line of credit, while effectively continuing as brokers.  It lists questions it will consider in determining whether a correspondent lending arrangement is actually a broker arrangement, such as whether the mini-correspondent acts as a broker in some transactions; how many investors it has to purchase loans; and whether the mini-correspondent, warehouse lender, or investor performs moat of the the origination activities. 

• The Federal Reserve, FDIC, and OCC finalized a rule that revises the definition of eligible guarantee in their advanced approaches risk-based capital rule, to remove the requirement that an eligible guarantee be made by an eligible guarantor for calculating the risk-weighted assets of an exposure (other than a securitization exposure).
• The Federal Reserve proposed to amend its capital plan and stress test rules to modify the start date of the capital plan and stress test cycles from October 1 of a calendar year to January 1 of the following calendar year.  The proposal would also amend the capital plan rule to limit a bank holding company’s ability to make capital distributions to the extent that its actual capital issuances are less than the amount indicated in its capital plan under baseline conditions. The proposal would clarify application of the capital plan rule to a bank holding company that is a subsidiary of a U.S. intermediate holding company of a foreign banking organization and the characteristics of a stressed scenario to be included in company run stress tests.
• The FDIC and OCC proposed to similarly adjust their stress testing cycle dates.  Annual stress test would be for a calendar year rather than for a year ending September 30.  Banks over $10 billion and under $50 billion would submit annual stress test results by July 31 and publish summaries by October 31, a four month delay in each.  Banks with over $50 billion in assets would submit reports by April 7 and publish summaries by July 15, a delay of about four months.  The OCC’s proposal is here, and the FDIC’s is here.
• The SEC reproposed a rule to remove references to credit ratings from rule 2a-7, the principal rule that governs money market funds, and Form N-MFP, which money market funds use to report on their portfolio holdings.  The proposal would also amend rule 2a-7’s issuer diversification provisions to eliminate an exclusion for securities subject to a guarantee issued by a non-controlled person.  
• The SEC finalized a rule regarding cross-border swaps that defines when a cross-border transaction must be counted toward the requirement to register as a security-based swap dealer or major participant.  The rule also addresses the scope of the SEC’s cross-border anti-fraud authority.  The rule sets procedures to request substituted compliance, permitting market participants to satisfy certain security-based swap requirements by complying with comparable non-U.S. rules. 
• The SEC finalized a rule requiring institutional prime money market mutual funds to have floating net asset values. 

Regards,

Canfield Press

Attached please find an updated Roadmap to the Dodd-Frank Act Rulemakings, Studies, and Reports.

Attached please find an updated Roadmap to the Dodd-Frank Act Rulemakings, Studies, and Reports.

Attached please find an updated Roadmap to the Dodd-Frank Act Rulemakings, Studies, and Reports.

Attached please find an updated Roadmap to the Dodd-Frank Act Rulemakings, Studies, and Reports.

The agencies also released a non-exclusive list of issuers that meet the interim final rule. 

• The SEC temporarily stayed rules related to municipal adviser registration and recordkeeping requirements until July 1, 2014 to conform certain dates in the rules to a July 1, 2014 compliance date.
• The SEC released two final rules removing references to credit ratings from regulations.  
  • The first concerns determinations of when an investment company may treat a repurchase agreement as an acquisition of securities collateralizing the repurchase agreement for certain purposes under the Investment Company Act.
  • The second concerns the broker-dealer financial responsibility and confirmations of transactions rules under the Exchange Act.

Regards,

Attached please find an updated Roadmap to the Dodd-Frank Act Rulemakings, Studies, and Reports.
• The Federal Reserve Board proposed amendments to Regulation A, governing Federal Reserve Bank extensions of credit, to implement Dodd-Frank amendments to the Federal Reserve's emergency lending authority.  The proposed rule is designed to ensure that any emergency lending program or facility is for the purpose of providing liquidity to the financial system, and not to aid an individual failing financial company.
• FHFA issued orders prescribing GSE stress testing scenarios.

Regards,
Canfield Press
 

Attached please find an updated Roadmap to the Dodd-Frank Act Rulemakings, Studies, and Reports.

• The banking agencies, CFTC, and SEC released final Volcker rules, and the banking agencies released FAQs on CDOs backed by trust preferred securities.  The Federal Reserve announced that banking entities will be required to fully conform by July 21, 2015, and that the other agencies will apply the rule accordingly.  This extension does not apply to recordkeeping and reporting of Appendix A to certain banking entities with significant trading activities.  The CFTC’s rule is similar but separate.
On December 23, the American Bankers Assocciation, CB&T Bancshares, Inc., Citizens Bank & Trust Company, MBT Financial Corporation and Monroe Bank & Trust Company sued the banking agencies in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals challenging a portion of the rule.  They next day, they filed an emergency motion for a stay of the definition of “other similar interests” in § _.10(d)(6) of the rule, pending the appeal.  The motion states, “To the shock of community banks, the Final Rule unexpectedly requires banks to divest their holdings in a commonly held debt instrument known as a ‘TruPS-backed CDO’ by July 2015 and, under Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (‘GAAP’), to take an immediate and irrevocable hit to earnings and capital as a result.” 
• The FDIC published for comment a notice of its Single Point of Entry strategy for orderly SIFI liquidations, under which the FDIC would be appointed receiver only of the top-tier U.S. holding company, and subsidiaries would remain open and continue operations.
• The Federal Insurance Office (FIO) released a report entitled “How to Modernize and Improve the System of Insurance Regulation in the United States.”  The report includes recommendations for “near-term reform for the States” concerning safety and soundness and capital adequacy, insurance company resolution practices, and marketplace regulation.
• The Federal Reserve Board, the CFPB, the FDIC, the FHFA, the NCUA, and the OCC, issued a final rule supplementing their January 2013 interagency appraisal rule, which requires appraisals with interior inspections in some cases.  The amendment exempts certain refinances and transactions secured by a new manufactured home.  QM loans are exempt.
• The Federal Reserve finalized what had been an interim final rule clarifying the § 716 treatment of uninsured U.S. branches and agencies of foreign banks.  This implements a restriction on federal assistance, such as discount window lending and deposit insurance, to swaps entities. Insured depository institutions that are swaps entities are eligible for a transition period of up to 24 months.  The final rule clarifies that uninsured U.S. branches and agencies of foreign banks are treated as insured depository institutions.  The final rule also sets the process for state member banks and uninsured state branches or agencies of foreign banks to apply for the transition period.
• GAO released a report on regulatory analyses by agencies during Dodd-Frank rulemakings.  The report says that OMB, in coordination with the agencies, may not be consistently determining which rules are considered major rules, which permits Congressional review before a rule can become effective if the rule will have an annual effect of $100 million or more.  GAO found that some independent agencies submitted all their rules to OMB, but others did not.  GAO also found inconsistencies in how these agencies applied the underlying criteria. For example, GAO found rules issued by different agencies that had similar economic impacts but were not similarly classified as major.  Also, in 2011, GAO recommended that the regulators determine how they will measure the impact of Dodd-Frank regulations in their plans to conduct retrospective reviews, but they have not done so to date. GAO recommends that OMB issue guidance to help standardize the processes.  OMB disagreed such guidance is needed.
• GAO released a report on the SEC’s financial statements for the fiscal years ended September 30, 2013 and 2012, including statements for the SEC’s investor protection fund, and found them presented fairly in all material respects.     
• GAO released a report on the CFPB’s financial statements for the fiscal years ended September 30, 2013, and 2012, and found them presented fairly in all material respects.
• The Office of Financial Research released a 2013 annual report analyzing threats to U.S. financial stability. 

• The report finds the chief threats are vulnerabilities in markets for securities financing transactions and credit, vulnerabilities to an increase in interest rates and volatility, operational risks, and uncertainty about the U.S. fiscal policy outlook. 
• The report presents a prototype Financial Stability Monitor tool to track threats and the interplay among them.  The monitor addresses five components of financial stability risk: macroeconomic, market, credit, funding and liquidity, and contagion. 
• The report states that while regulators have expanded their macroprudential tools, gaps remain.  The report states that bank stress testing could be improved by incorporating funding risks, potential spillovers, and feedback effects.  OFR maintains an inventory describing the data that FSOC member agencies purchase or collect.
• OFR is standardizing the types and formats of data reported and collected, such as working with the CFTC and global regulators to standardize derivatives reporting.   

Regards,
Canfield Press

This is the December 8, 2013 updates to the “Roadmap to Financial and Housing Market Stabilization Plans” document.  These updates include the following:

Attached please find an updated Roadmap to the Dodd-Frank Act Rulemakings, Studies, and Reports.

Attached please find an updated Roadmap to the Dodd-Frank Act Rulemakings, Studies, and Reports.

Attached please find an updated Roadmap to the Dodd-Frank Act Rulemakings, Studies, and Reports.

Attached please find an updated Roadmap to the Dodd-Frank Act Rulemakings, Studies, and Reports.

• The CFPB, FDIC, Federal Reserve, FHFA, NCUA, and OCC released a supplemental proposal relating to appraisals for higher-priced mortgage loans.  The proposal would exempt transactions secured by existing manufactured homes and not land, certain streamlined refinancings, and transactions of $25,000 or less.  Comments are due September 9, 2013. 
• The CFPB released a regulation under the Federal Tort Claims Act, which governs injuries caused by agency employee negligence.
• The CFTC released interpretive guidance and a policy statement regarding the cross-border application of the Dodd-Frank swaps provision.  The guidance addresses the scope of the term “U.S. person,” the general framework for swap dealer and major swap participant registration determinations, the treatment of swaps involving certain foreign branches of U.S. banks, the treatment of swaps involving a non-U.S. counterparty guaranteed by a U.S. person or affiliate conduit, and the categorization of the Dodd-Frank swaps provisions as entity-level requirements or transaction-level requirements.
• The Federal Banking Agencies released joint proposed guidance on stress tests for banking organizations with more than $10 billion but less than $50 billion in total consolidated assets.  Comments are due September 25 to the FDIC and OCC, and September 30 to the Federal Reserve Board. 

• The CFPB released a final remittance transfers rule to address disclosures of transferee fees and taxes, and to streamline resolutions of transferor errors.  The rule is effective October 28, 2013.
• The CFTC released interpretive guidance and a policy statement on the scope of prohibitions on disruptive trading, practices, or conduct.
• FHFA proposed a rule to remove credit rating references from regulations applicable to the FHLBs.  Comments are due July 22, 2013.
• The FFIEC Appraisal Subcommittee finalized revisions to its appraisal policy statements, effective June 1, 2013.

• The CFPB finalized an amendment to its higher-priced mortgage loans regulation, substantially as proposed, to require that creditors determine repayment ability, and to restrict prepayment penalties, until the final ability-to-repay rule becomes effective.  Without this change, there would have been a six-month period when these requirements would not be in place for higher-priced mortgage loans.  It also clarifies which counties are rural or underserved for a small lender exemption.
• The CFTC finalized a rule that defines the criteria for grouping swaps into separate swap categories and establishes methodologies for setting appropriate minimum block sizes for each swap category.  The rule also has measures to prevent the public disclosure of the identities, business transactions, and market positions of swaps market participants.  The rule is effective 60 days after Federal Register publication.
• The CFTC finalized a rule, guidance, and acceptable practices that establish registration requirements and core principles for swap execution facilities.  The compliance date for most of the rule is 120 days after Federal Register publication.
• The CFTC finalized a rule that that establishes a process for a designated contract market or swap execution facility to make a swap subject to the trade execution requirement.  Compliance will be required on the later of the applicable deadline established for the clearing requirement for a swap, or 30 days after the available-to-trade determination for that swap is deemed approved or certified. CFTC compliance dates are available here.     

• The CFPB released a final rule on its information disclosures.  Just as in the July 2011 interim final rule, the final rule provides:

“To the extent permitted by law and as authorized by the Director in writing, the CFPB may disclose confidential information other than as set forth in this subpart.”
In the preamble, the CFPB explained that it intends to use this provision “to account for rare situations in which an unforeseen and exigent need exists to disclose confidential information for purposes or in a manner not otherwise provided for in the rule.”

• GAO released a report on Dodd-Frank implementation.  GAO describes the difficulty in evaluating the costs and benefits of the Dodd-Frank Act’s reforms.  Some costs, such as the law’s impact on the economy, cannot be easily quantified.  Studies have estimated the economic impact of certain of the act’s reforms, but GAO says their results vary widely and depend on key assumptions.  The report says federal agencies report having put over $1 billion in resources toward implementing the Dodd-Frank Act since 2010.  The CFPB has spent $432.3 million, more than any other agency. 
• The SEC issued an order granting a temporary exemption, until February 11, 2014, from certain Exchange Act provisions in connection with the revised definition of “security” to encompass security-based swaps.  The temporary exemptions include exemptions in connection with security-based swap activity by certain eligible contract participants; and exemptions specific to security-based swap activities by registered brokers and dealers.

• The Federal Reserve extended the public comment period on a proposal to implement enhanced prudential standards and early remediation requirements for foreign financial companies the Board supervises.  Comments were originally due March 31, 2013, and are now due April 30, 2013.

• The CFPB solicits comment on how partnerships or arrangements between higher education institutions and financial institutions could promote positive financial decision-making among young consumers and what financial products and services are being offered to college students.  Comments are due March 18.
• The SEC extended for a year, until February 11, 2014, the expiration dates in interim final rules that provide exemptions under the 1933 and 1934 Acts and the Trust Indenture Act for security-based swaps that before July 16, 2011 were security-based swap agreements and are defined as “securities” as of July 16, 2011 due solely to Title VII.

• The CFPB released a final loan originator compensation rule.  Most of it is effective January 10, 2014.  However, a prohibition on mandatory arbitration in loans secured by a dwelling, and a prohibition on financing single-premium credit insurance, are effective June 1, 2013.
• The CFPB delayed the effective date of its remittance transfers rule until after proposed amendments to the rule, for which the comment period closes January 30, are final.  The rule was scheduled to go into effect February 7.  The CFPB has not set a new effective date.
• The SEC finalized a rule regarding lost securityholders and unresponsive payees.  It is effective March 25, 2013, and the compliance date is January 23, 2014. 
• The SEC extended until February 22 the comment period on a proposed rule that would set capital, margin, and segregation requirements for security-based swap dealers and participants, and capital requirements for broker-dealers.
• GAO released a report that is not required by the Dodd-Frank Act, but looks at its implementation.  GAO found that as of December 2012, regulators had issued 48 percent of the required final rules.  Of the remaining provisions, GAO found that regulators had proposed rules for about 29 percent, and rulemakings had not occurred for about 23 percent.  Separately, GAO released a non-Dodd-Frank reportabout rulemakings from 2003 through 2010, finding that in this period, agencies did not publish a proposed rule for comment in 35 percent of major rulemakings and 44 percent of nonmajor rulemakings.  

• The CFPB requests comments on how the credit card market is functioning under the CARD Act.  Comments are due February 19, 2013.
• The CFPB proposed to revise its remittance transfers rule to provide more flexibility about disclosing foreign taxes and fees by recipient institutions; to limit the required disclosure of taxes to taxes charged only by a central government; and to revise the error resolution provisions that apply when the sender provided incorrect or insufficient information.  The Bureau is also proposing to temporarily delay the effective date until 90 days after this rule is final.  Comments on the effective date are due January 15, and on the rest of the proposal are due January 30, 2013.
• The CFTC proposed to extend compliance dates for several of its rules.  Dates for regulations at 17 C.F.R. § 23.201(b)(3)(ii), 23.402; 23.410(c); 23.430; 23.431(a) through (c); 23.432; 23.434(a)(2), (b), and (c); 23.440; 23.450, and 23.505 is extended until May 1, 2013; the compliance date for the regulations at 17 C.F.R. § 23.502 and 23.504 is extended until July 1, 2013.  Comments on the extensions are due February 1, 2013.  The CFRC published a list of compliance dates searchable by rulemaking or topic here.
• The OCC extended a temporary exception to the lending limit rule for credit exposures arising from a derivative transaction or securities financing transaction, from January 1, 2013 to July 1, 2013.  Dodd-Frank § 610 extended the rule to credit exposure from a derivative transaction, repurchase agreement, reverse repurchase agreement, securities lending transaction, or securities borrowing transaction.  The OCC published an interim final rule June 21, 2012, applicable to the new transactions January 1, 2013, now extended. 
• The OCC published a notice to insured depository institutions that are or may become swap dealers that the OCC is prepared to favorably consider requests for a transition period for Dodd-Frank § 716(f) if the requests conform to the procedures and conditions established in the notice, and are submitted by January 31, 2013.  Section 716 prohibits Federal assistance to swaps entities, including federal depository institutions that are swap dealers, with some exceptions.

• The CFPB submitted an annual fair lending report to Congress.  It says the CFPB is The CFPB has begun the planning process to promulgate rules concerning small, minority-, and women-owned business loan data collection and reporting, and is examining what changes it may propose to Regulation C.  TILA prohibits abusive or unfair lending practices that promote disparities among consumers of equal credit worthiness but of different race, ethnicity, gender, or age, and the report says the CFPB has begun preliminary planning with regard to this rule.
• The CFTC finalized a rule that requires futures commission merchants, introducing brokers, retail foreign exchange dealers all members of a designated contract market or swap execution facilities to retain records of all written communications provided or received concerning quotes, solicitations, bids, offers, instructions, trading, and prices, that lead to the execution of a transaction in a commodity interest or related cash or forward transactions.  There is a one-year implementation period.
• The CFTC finalized a rule requiring that certain classes of credit default swaps and interest rate swaps be cleared by a registered derivatives clearing organization.  The rules become effective February 11, 2013.
• The Federal Reserve proposed to implement enhanced prudential standards and  early remediation requirements for foreign financial companies the Board supervises.  A foreign banking organization with both $50 billion or more in global consolidated assets and U.S. subsidiaries with $10 billion or more in total assets generally would be required to organize its U.S. subsidiaries under a single U.S. intermediate holding company.  These intermediate holding companies would be subject to the same risk-based and leverage capital standards applicable to U.S. bank holding companies. Intermediate holding companies with $50 billion or more in consolidated assets also would be subject to the Board’s capital plan rule.  The U.S. operations of foreign banking organizations with combined U.S. assets of $50 billion or more would be required to meet enhanced liquidity risk-management standards, conduct liquidity stress tests, and hold a 30-day buffer of highly liquid assets.  The proposal also includes measures regarding capital stress tests, single-counterparty credit limits, overall risk management, and early remediation.  Foreign banking organizations with global consolidated assets of $50 billion or more on July 1, 2014, would be required to meet the new standards on July 1, 2015.  Comments are due March 31, 2013.
• GAO released a report of Agencies’ Efforts to Analyze and Coordinate Their Rules under the Dodd-Frank Act. GAO’s review of selected rules found that regulators did not consistently follow key elements of the OMB guidance on cost-benefit analyses.  GAO concluded that it is too soon to measure the impact of the Dodd-Frank rules that are final and effective, and it will take time to implement them.  GAO’s analysis suggests that, to date, the Dodd-Frank Act may have had little effect on U.S. bank SIFIs’ funding costs but may have helped improve their safety and soundness.  The report reiterates GAO’s 2011 recommendations that the federal financial regulators more fully incorporate OMB’s guidance into their rulemaking policies and that FSOC work with the regulators to establish formal interagency coordination policies for rulemaking.
• The NCUA finalized a rule establishing alternatives to credit ratings in its regulations.  It is effective June 11, 2013.

• FSOC released a proposed recommendationto the SEC to implement structural reforms for money market mutual funds.  The FSOC is using its § 120 authority to develop a recommendation that the SEC apply new or heightened standards or safeguards.  Once a recommendation is final, the SEC must either impose the standards, impose similar standards the FSOC deems acceptable, or explain to the FSOC why it does not follow the recommendation.  The SEC has 90 days from the FSOC final recommendation.  FSOC must report its final recommendation and the SEC’s decision to Congress.  The release is a proposed recommendation, and after the comment period, the FSOC may make a final recommendation to the SEC.  FSOC lists alternatives for reforms:
  • Floating net asset value (“NAV”);
  • A NAV buffer with assets up to 1 percent to absorb day-to-day fluctuations in the value of the funds’ portfolio and allow the funds to maintain a stable NAV.
  • Require a risk-based NAV buffer of 3 percent with other measures to make the buffer more effective.
  • Some combination of the above.

• The FDIC published a final rule requiring annual stress tests for FDIC-regulated banks with over $10 billion in assets.  Implementation for banks with assets between $10 billion and $50 billion is delayed until September 2013.
• The Federal Reserve published a final rule requiring annual stress tests for bank holding companies with assets between $10 billion and $50 billion and savings and loan holding companies and state member banks with total consolidated assets greater than $10 billion.  Implementation is delayed until September 2013.  It issued a separate final rule for stress testing banking organizations with assets over $50 billion, effective November 15, 2012.
• The OCC published a final rule requiring annual stress tests for national banks and federal thrifts with over $10 billion in assets.  The rule applies to those with assets over $50 billion immediately and to the others not until 2013.
• FHFA proposed a rule to require stress tests for Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the FHLBs, each of which has over $10 billion in assets.  Comments are due November 5.
• The CFTC proposed a rule to add swaps, swap markets, and swap entities to numerous definitions and regulations, and to make a number of conforming amendments to integrate the CFTC’s regulations more fully with the Dodd-Frank regulations.  Comments are due 60 days after Federal Register publication.
• The FDIC published a final rule that permits the FDIC, as receiver for a systemically significant financial company, to enforce contracts of subsidiaries or affiliates of the company despite contract clauses that purport to terminate or accelerate the contract based on the financial condition of the company.
• The FDIC published an initial regulatory flexibility analysis of its August 30 proposed rule on calculating risk-weighted assets.  Comments are due November 16, 2012.
• The OCC proposed to amend its retail foreign exchange rule for transactions with bank common trust funds, bank collective investment funds, and insurance company separate accounts.
• Regards.

• The CFPB proposed a rulethat would permit credit card issuers to consider income to which a credit applicant has a reasonable expectation of access, and not just the applicant’s independent ability to repay the credit.  Comments are due 60 days after Federal Register publication.
• The CFPB proposeda rule and published a revised “system of records,” both under the Privacy Act of 1974, which restricts federal agencies’ ability to divulge information they collect about individuals.  The effect of both is to permit the CFPB to disclose consumer complaint information to a variety of persons enumerated in the revised system of records.  Comments on both are due November 19, 2012.
• The SEC proposed a rulesetting capital and margin requirements for security-based swap dealers and major security-based swap participants, segregation requirements for security-based swap dealers, and notification requirements with respect to segregation for security-based swap dealers and major security-based swap participants.  The rule would also increase the minimum net capital requirements for broker-dealers permitted to use the alternative internal model-based method for computing net capital.  The SEC also posted a Fact Sheetdescribing the rule.  Comments are due 60 days after Federal Register publication.

• The FDIC published a final rulerequiring annual stress tests for FDIC-regulated banks with over $10 billion in assets.  Implementation for banks with assets between $10 billion and $50 billion is delayed until September 2013.
• The Federal Reserve published a final rulerequiring annual stress tests for bank holding companies with assets between $10 billion and $50 billion and savings and loan holding companies and state member banks with total consolidated assets greater than $10 billion.  Implementation is delayed until September 2013.  It issued a separate final rulefor stress testing banking organizations with assets over $50 billion, effective November 15, 2012.
• The OCC published a final rulerequiring annual stress tests for national banks and federal thrifts with over $10 billion in assets.  The rule applies to those with assets over $50 billion immediately and to the others not until 2013.
• FHFA proposeda rule to require stress tests for Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the FHLBs, each of which has over $10 billion in assets.  Comments are due November 5.
• The CFTC proposeda rule to add swaps, swap markets, and swap entities to numerous definitions and regulations, and to make a number of conforming amendments to integrate the CFTC’s regulations more fully with the Dodd-Frank regulations.  Comments are due 60 days after Federal Register publication. 
• The FDIC published a final rulethat permits the FDIC, as receiver for a systemically significant financial company, to enforce contracts of subsidiaries or affiliates of the company despite contract clauses that purport to terminate or accelerate the contract based on the financial condition of the company. 
• The FDIC published an initial regulatory flexibility analysisof its August 30 proposed rule on calculating risk-weighted assets.  Comments are due November 16, 2012.
• The OCC proposed to amend its retail foreign exchangerule for transactions with bank common trust funds, bank collective investment funds, and insurance company separate accounts.