US Agencies Announce Results of Assessment of Bank Resolution Plans

Resolution plans, commonly known as living wills, describe a bank's strategy for rapid and orderly resolution under bankruptcy in the event of material financial distress or failure. In the plans of Bank of America, Bank of New York Mellon, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, State Street, and Wells Fargo, the Agencies found shortcomings related to the ability of the firms to reliably produce, in stressed conditions, data needed to execute their resolution strategy. Examples include measures of capital and liquidity at relevant subsidiaries. The agencies did not find shortcomings in the plans from Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan Chase. The agencies also announced that Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and Wells Fargo successfully addressed prior shortcomings identified by the agencies in their December 2017 resolution plan review.

The feedback letters have been generated for the assessed banks. For the six banks whose plans have shortcomings, the letter details the specific weaknesses and the actions required. Overall, the letters note that each firm made significant progress in enhancing its resolvability and developing resolution-related capabilities but all firms will need to continue to make progress in certain areas. The feedback letters confirm that the Agencies expect to focus on testing the resolution capabilities of the firms when reviewing their next plans.

At present, the largest, most complex FED-supervised banking organizations are required to file resolution plans by July 01 of each year. All other organizations that are supervised by FED and are subject to the resolution planning rule are required to file by December 31 of each year.

Related Links

• Joint Press Release
• Information on Resolution Plans

Keywords: Americas, US, Banking, Resolution Plans, Large Banks, Systemic Risk, Living Wills, US Agencies