Fed Finalizes Rules on Bank Capital Distributions and CECL Delay

The Federal Reserve approved a rule change Wednesday that will make automatic restrictions on bank capital distributions “more gradual” and another that will allow lenders to delay some of the impacts from the Current Expected Credit Losses accounting provision.

• The changes are either identical or substantially similar to interim final rules approved in March, Fed says in statement
• The regulation on bank capital distributions applies to restrictions on share buybacks, dividend payments and bonus payments that automatically kick in when capital levels fall below certain thresholds
• The CECL change allows lenders to mitigate the accounting provision’s estimated impacts on capital...