The Board published a final rule in the Federal Register on October 11, 2013, regarding regulatory capital rules. More... The Board also published a final rule in the Federal Register on May 1, 2014, to amend the regulatory capital rules to include enhanced supplementary leverage ratio standards. This final rule resolves an unintended deletion from the regulatory capital rules that was made in connection with the enhanced supplementary leverage ratio standards. The final rule is effective April 20, 2018 (Regulation Q, Docket R-1606), the same day it was published in the Federal Register.

The Board, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) (collectively, “the agencies”) are adopting a final rule to amend the agencies’ regulations requiring appraisals of real estate for certain transactions. More... The final rule increases the threshold level at or below which appraisals are not required for commercial real estate transactions from $250,000 to $500,000. The final rule defines commercial real estate transaction as a real estate-related financial transaction that is not secured by a single 1-to-4 family residential property. It excludes all transactions secured by a single 1-to-4 family residential property, and thus construction loans secured by a single 1-to-4 family residential property are excluded. For commercial real estate transactions exempted from the appraisal requirement as a result of the revised threshold, regulated institutions must obtain an evaluation of the real property collateral that is consistent with safe and sound banking practices. The final rule is effective April 9, 2018 (Regulation Y, Docket R-1568), the same day it was published in the Federal Register.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is amending federal mortgage disclosure requirements under the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act and the Truth in Lending Act that are implemented in Regulation Z. More... The amendments relate to when a creditor may compare charges paid by or imposed on the consumer to amounts disclosed on a closing disclosure, instead of a loan estimate, to determine if an estimated closing cost was disclosed in good faith. The final rule is effective June 1, 2018 (Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Regulation Z, Docket CFPB-2017-0018) and was published in the Federal Register on May 2, 2018.

Pursuant to the provisions of the Privacy Act of 1974, notice was given that the Board proposed the establishment of a new system of records, BGFRS-40, entitled “FRB—Board Subscription Services.” More... The new system of records, BGFRS-40, will maintain subscription-related information regarding individuals who subscribe to Board publications. The main publication that the Board provides is the Federal Reserve Regulatory Service (FRRS), which is a compilation of the statutes administered by the Board along with regulations, interpretations, policy statements, rulings, and opinions issued by the Board and its staff. The FRRS also includes select regulations issued by other agencies that are relevant to the Board’s responsibilities. The Board also provides subscriptions to other publications such as general publications, reports to Congress, and economic research and data.

To date, the Board has operated the subscription services itself and stored the data by year rather than by name or personal identifier. Going forward, the Board will contract the subscription services for the FRRS to a vendor, who will maintain the files (both electronic and in paper) in a manner that customarily allows the files to be accessed by name or personal identifier, thus necessitating this new system of records. More... After the transition of the FRRS subscription services to the vendor, the Board will continue to maintain its old historical FRRS subscription materials for the appropriate record retention period. In addition, the Board will continue to operate the subscription services for the other publications (e.g., the general publications). The Board, however, is changing how it maintains its Board-operated subscription services as, going forward, the Board will be using an electronic system that will allow retrieval of the subscription materials by subscriber name or other personal identifier. The new system of records became applicable after the comment period closed on May 11, 2018 (Rules Regarding Access to Personal Information under the Privacy Act of 1974, Systems of Records of the Federal Reserve System) and was published in the Federal Register on April 11, 2018.

The Board is requesting comment on the benefits and drawbacks of a potential change to part II of the Federal Reserve Policy on Payment System Risk (PSR policy). More... The potential change would entail the Federal Reserve Banks monitoring in real time all Fedwire funds transfers and rejecting those transfers that would breach the Fedwire sender’s net debit cap, that is, the ceiling on its total daylight overdraft position that it is permitted to incur in its Federal Reserve account during any given day. If, after an evaluation of the public comments on this notice, the Board concludes that an expansion of real-time monitoring is desirable, the Board will request public comment on specific proposed changes to the PSR policy. Comments on this notice of proposed rulemaking must be received by July 6, 2018 (Docket OP-1607).

The Board, the FDIC, and the OCC are inviting public comment on a joint proposal to address changes to U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (U.S. GAAP) described in Accounting Standards Update (ASU) No. 2016-13, Topic 326, Financial Instruments—Credit Losses (ASU 2016-13), including banking organizations’ implementation of the current expected credit losses methodology. More... Specifically, the proposal would revise the agencies’ regulatory capital rules to identify which credit loss allowances under the new accounting standard are eligible for inclusion in regulatory capital and to provide banking organizations the option to phase in the day-one adverse effects on regulatory capital that may result from the adoption of the new accounting standard. The proposal also would amend certain regulatory disclosure requirements to reflect applicable changes to U.S. GAAP covered under ASU 2016-13. In addition, the agencies are proposing to make amendments to their stress testing regulations so that covered banking organizations that have adopted ASU 2016-13 would not include the effect of ASU 2016-13 on their provisioning for purposes of stress testing until the 2020 stress test cycle. Finally, the agencies are proposing to make conforming amendments to their other regulations that reference credit loss allowances. Comments on this notice of proposed rulemaking must be received by July 13, 2018 (Docket R-1605).