Comments due on OCC QFC proposal

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency is proposing to add a new part to its rules to enhance the resilience and the safety and soundness of federally chartered and licensed financial institutions by addressing concerns relating to the exercise of default rights of certain financial contracts that could interfere with the orderly resolution of certain systemically important financial firms. Under this proposed rule, a covered bank would be required to ensure that a covered qualified financial contract (1) contains a contractual stay-and-transfer provision analogous to the statutory stay-and-transfer provision imposed under Title II of the Dodd-Frank Act and in the Federal Deposit Insurance Act, and (2) limits the exercise of default rights based on the insolvency of an affiliate of the covered bank. In addition, this proposed rule would make conforming amendments to the OCC's Capital Adequacy Standards and the Liquidity Risk Measurement Standards in its regulations. The requirements of this proposed rule are substantively identical to those contained in a notice of proposed rulemaking issued by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System on May 3, 2016.

The proposal has been published at 81 FR 55381 in the Federal Register. Comments on the proposal are due by October 18, 2016.