Bank Safety & Soundness Advisor Executive intelligence on bank exams, enforcement and risk management

Regulators Exempt Community Banks from Capital Stress Testing
May 21, 2012

Ever since Dodd-Frank mandated new rules for big bank stress testing, smaller banks began to worry that those rules would, sooner or later, come to apply to them as well. Last week, the three banking regulators – the OCC, Federal Reserve and FDIC – not only released final rules for big... Continued...

Indexed by: Capital Adequacy | Exams/Enforcement | Regulation

3 Small Bank Lessons from the New Big-Bank Stress Testing Regulation
May 21, 2012

Federal regulators released the final version of the long-promised big-bank stress testing rules last week. And, as the regulators have gone out of their way to say, they won’t expect community banks to run the kind of bank-wide capital stress testing they address in the new rules. However,... Continued...

Indexed by: Exams/Enforcement | Management | Regulation

Reverse Stress Testing: A Short How-to
May 21, 2012

In the recently released big-bank stress testing guidance, regulators push for regular stress testing, including reverse stress testing, as a way to gain insight into institutional risk. Small banks can expect to hear about regular stress testing and about reverse stress testing, too, experts... Continued...

Indexed by: Capital Adequacy | Exams/Enforcement | Regulation

Community Banks Still Caught in TARP Trap
May 14, 2012

Most of the larger banks caught up in TARP have escaped – either by paying the federal government back or by participating in the Treasury’s recent rounds of TARP auctions – leaving behind a modest group of community banks still stuck with TARP. Treasury clarified its plans for... Continued...

Indexed by: Capital Adequacy | Exams/Enforcement | Regulation

Compliance Costs about to Shrink Industry, CEO Argues
May 14, 2012

How much does it cost to comply with the ever-growing pile of regulation coming from Washington? Too much, says William Grant, the CEO and Chairman of First United Bank and Trust ($1.38 billion), Oakland, Md. Grant testified at a Congressional hearing on behalf of his bank and the American Bankers... Continued...

Indexed by: Exams/Enforcement | Regulation

OTS Planned Bank Seizure in Secret, Bankers Allege
May 14, 2012

Have you ever felt like your regulator had it out for your bank? That no matter what you did, no matter how hard your bank worked to comply with escalating regulatory demands, and no matter how successful you were in meeting those demands, it didn’t matter because your stone-faced regulator... Continued...

Indexed by: Exams/Enforcement | Regulation | Troubled Banks

Examiners Question Reg O Exemptions, Directors’ Policy Roles
May 07, 2012

Bank boards can – and do – exempt individual board members from Regulation O officer restrictions. But lately, examiners have been questioning some of those exemptions. And, since a Reg O officer designation comes with strict borrowing restrictions and potentially high daily penalties,... Continued...

Indexed by: Exams/Enforcement | Regulation

Related Content >

Intensified Business Plan Reporting Overwhelms Some Community Bankers
April 30, 2012

If you haven’t had to submit a business plan recently, you may soon. And if you do, you’ll be in for a shock. It’s not the same process that it used to be. Regulators are demanding business plans and plan revisions more often. And the level of detail and analysis they’re... Continued...

Indexed by: Earnings | Exams/Enforcement | Regulation | Troubled Banks

4 Tips for Better Business Plan Revisions
April 30, 2012

The local market has evolved and you’re ready to change with it. You have big plans for your bank. Ready to make those changes? Not so fast. Regulators are demanding more sophisticated, forward-looking business plan reports more often, not only from troubled banks and de novos, but also from... Continued...

Indexed by: Exams/Enforcement | Management | Regulation | Troubled Banks

Regulatory Scrutiny a Factor in Bank-to-CU Conversion, Thrivent CEO Says
April 30, 2012

Some time, before year’s-end, Thrivent Financial Bank is expected to defy conventional wisdom and convert to a credit union. Why would a profitable $500 million bank with a loyal and growing customer base want to convert? The momentum seems to be all in the other direction – with credit... Continued...

Indexed by: Exams/Enforcement | Regulation

Federal bank regulators released the final version of their big-bank stress testing rules. They also told community banks they wouldn't be subject to the new rules, but can expect to have to follow already-issued stress testing-related guidance on CRE, liquidy and interest rate risk management.

If community banks don't start stress testing, regulators will come up with a solution that's even worse, argues the Conference of State Bank Supervisors.

FASB wants to change its accounting guidelines for troubled debt restructurings.

The banking regulators say FASB's mark-to-market accounting proposal is wrong, plus they want to change how banks calculate ALLL.

The IRS is scouring bank tax records to look at how you are treating non-performing loans, particularly accrued interest.

Examiners will be looking at your incentive pay arrangements as part of a safety and soundness exam, according to new guidance issued by all four banking regulators.

Regulators say that fair value gains from acquisitions can be blocked from use in capital calculations.

Regulators, examining the economic banking crisis, want banks to beef up their enterprise risk management processes.

Bank holding companies would lose the ability to count TruPS as Tier 1 Capital if the Collins Amendment to the Senate reform bill survives.

Examiners are increasingly demanding that banks reduce their CRE and ADC concentrations, referring to CRE guidance first issued in 2006.

The Labor Department's first-ever Administrator's Interpretation concluded that mortgage loan officers are entitled to overtime pay.

Regulators have issued correspondent concentration guidance, setting out ways banks should limit their exposures.