SIFMA Submits Comments to Federal Reserve on FBO Resolution Proposal

Washington, D.C., November 30, 2023 - SIFMA submitted a letter to Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Federal Reserve) and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) on proposed guidance for resolution plan submissions of foreign triennial full filers.

"The proposal, when considered in combination with other recent proposals by the banking agencies, would have a negative impact on the ability of foreign banking organizations (FBOs) to support the U.S. capital markets and broader economy, reducing an important source of diversity and competition for market participants and end-users," wrote SIFMA President and CEO Kenneth E. Bentsen, Jr in the letter. "The proposal does not reflect the fact that the specified firms have significantly reduced their risk profile and size over the past decade. It fails to appropriately account for the heightened capital, liquidity, and resolution-related resource requirements that the specified firms are already subject to, and it does not consider the planned capital and debt increases resulting from recent proposals issued by the banking agencies. It also does not fully consider heightened home country capital, liquidity, governance, and resolution requirements, including total loss absorbing capacity (TLAC) requirements at the parent level, that the specified firms are subject to."

The letter outlines several key observations and recommendations regarding the proposal, including:

• The specified firms play an important role in the U.S. capital markets and have reduced their risk profile in recent years. It would be inappropriate to apply the proposed new expectations to these firms.
• The Agencies should not adopt onerous and duplicative expectations around a) derivatives and trading activities and b) capital and liquidity adequacy that they recently considered but did not adopt. The Agencies should also issue separate guidance for specified firms that do not have IHCs.
• The Agencies should work with home country regulators to obtain information on group resolution plans.
• The Agencies should clarify the types of information they will require in relation to non-U.S. "material entities."
• The Agencies should a) provide specified firms 12 months following the finalization of the guidance to file their next set of resolution plans and b) also issue a statement by January 1, 2024, providing for an interim extension of the current July 1, 2024, plan submission date to December 31, 2024 (both requests are also contained in the joint industry letter submitted today). In addition, the Agencies should provide additional time for new triennial full filers to come into compliance with the final guidance.

The comment letter further expands on these views and can be found here.

SIFMA also joined an industry letter calling on both agencies to provide an interim extension of the July 2024 submission date for both domestic and foreign triennial full filers.

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SIFMA is the leading trade association for broker-dealers, investment banks and asset managers operating in the U.S. and global capital markets. On behalf of our industry's one million employees, we advocate on legislation, regulation and business policy affecting retail and institutional investors, equity and fixed income markets and related products and services. We serve as an industry coordinating body to promote fair and orderly markets, informed regulatory compliance, and efficient market operations and resiliency. We also provide a forum for industry policy and professional development. SIFMA, with offices in New York and Washington, D.C., is the U.S. regional member of the Global Financial Markets Association (GFMA).