Posts by Bill Hoisington

REGULATORY DEVELOPMENTS Stress Testing Comment Period Extended The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) extended the comment period on a proposal to implement annual stress testing requirements of Section 165 of the Dodd-Frank Act.  This also coincides with the Federal Reserve’s proposed rules to implement the…

LEGISLATIVE DEVELOPMENTS Obama Administration FY 2013 Budget Proposal and Business Tax Reform Framework As noted in the 2/13/2012 Ad Hoc LRA, the Obama administration released its FY2013 Budget Proposal and the General Explanations of the Administration’s Fiscal Year 2013 Revenue Proposals.  As many within the insurance industry expected, the latest budget included the same insurance-related…

REGULATORY DEVELOPMENTS Regulators Propose Stress Testing Rules In January, both the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) proposed rules to implement capital adequacy stress testing under Dodd-Frank section 165(1)(2).  The annual stress tests conducted by covered institutions under the proposed rules are to provide forward-looking information…

REGULATORY DEVELOPMENTS Federal Agencies Extend Comment Period on Volcker Rule Proposal On December 23, 2011, the federal agencies extended the comment period on a proposal to implement the Dodd-Frank Volcker Rule until February 13, 2012.  The Volcker Rule requires regulators to implement certain prohibitions and restrictions on the ability of a bank or nonbank financial…

REGULATORY DEVELOPMENTS OCC Proposes Rule to Remove References to Credit Ratings On November 29, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) proposed a rule that would remove references to credit ratings in the OCC’s non-capital regulations as required by Dodd-Frank Section 939A.  In particular, the OCC proposes to amend the definition of “investment…

REGULATORY DEVELOPMENTS Proposed Volcker Rule Regulations Released In mid-October, the Federal regulators (FDIC, Federal Reserve, OCC, and SEC) released the much anticipated proposed Volcker Rule regulations.  The Volcker Rule, embodied in Section 13 of the Bank Holding Company Act, generally prohibits a covered banking entity from proprietary trading and from investing in or controlling private…

TAX DEVELOPMENTS Debt Reduction Plan Includes Insurance-Related Tax Reforms On September 19, President Obama filed his debt reduction plan to the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction.  The Administration asserts that its plan will pay for the President’s jobs bill and produce net savings of more than $3 trillion over the next decade.  The plan…

REGULATORY DEVELOPMENTS SEC and CFTC Request Comment on Stable Value Contracts The Dodd-Frank Act provides for comprehensive regulations of swaps and security-based swaps and includes definitions of key terms relating to such regulations. It also requires the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to jointly conduct a study to…

REGULATORY DEVELOPMENTS Senate Hearing on 1st Anniversary of the Dodd-Frank Act On July 21, the Dodd-Frank Act reached its first anniversary and the banking regulators and the SEC testified about the impact of the financial crisis on the economy, how Dodd-Frank has improved the financial regulatory framework, and how the legislation will help prevent or…

REGULATORY DEVELOPMENTS Agencies Adopt Final Rule to Establish Risk-Based Capital Floor Three federal banking agencies adopted a final rule that establishes a floor for the risk-based capital requirements applicable to banking organizations as required by Dodd-Frank section 171 (commonly known as the Collins Amendment).  Each organization implementing the advanced approaches rules will continue to calculate…