US Agencies Finalize Resolution Plan Guidance for Foreign Banks

The guidance is intended to assist banks in developing their resolution plans, which are required to be submitted pursuant to Section 165(d) of the Dodd-Frank Act. Section 165(d) of the Dodd-Frank Act and the jointly issued implementing regulation require certain financial companies, including certain foreign-based firms, to report periodically to the agencies their plans for rapid and orderly resolution under the U.S. Bankruptcy Code in the event of material financial distress or failure. The final guidance for resolution plan submissions intends to provide guidance to certain foreign banking organizations that are required to submit plans regarding development of their respective U.S. resolution strategies. Specifically, the guidance applies to any foreign banking organizations that is subject to Category II standards according to its combined U.S. operations in accordance with FED tailoring rule and that is required to form an intermediate holding company.

The final guidance describes the agencies’ expectations regarding a number of key vulnerabilities in plans for an orderly resolution under the U.S. Bankruptcy Code (that is, capital, liquidity, governance mechanisms, operational, branches, legal entity rationalization, and derivatives and trading activities). The guidance reflects a number of changes to the proposal, which was issued in March 2020, in response to comments received by the agencies and further analysis by the agencies. The agencies tailored their expectations around resolution capital and liquidity, derivatives and trading activity, and payment, clearing, and settlement activities. Other sections, such as group resolution plan, and sub-sections, such as management information systems, qualified financial contracts, and mapping of branch activities, were determined to be duplicative of the existing regulatory requirements and, therefore, have been eliminated from the guidance. The scope of the guidance was modified to generally cover foreign banks in Category II of the agencies' large bank regulatory framework. As a result, the guidance will apply to the 2021 resolution plans from Barclays, Credit Suisse, and Deutsche Bank, in addition to Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Inc., for its full plans due in 2024.

Related Links

• Press Release
• Guidance (PDF)
• List of Banks (PDF)
• Board Memo (PDF)
• Feedback Letter Template (PDF)
• Targeted Resolution Plan Letter Template (PDF)

Keywords: Americas, US, Banking, Foreign Banks, Dodd-Frank Act, G-SIB, Resolution Framework, Regulatory Capital, Resolution Planning, Basel, US Agencies