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Federal agencies propose streamlined, more risk sensitive framework to modernize bank capital framework. LinkedIn Facebook X On March 19, the Federal Reserve, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) (collectively, the agencies) jointly issued three proposed rules to "modernize" the regulatory capital framework for banking organizations of all sizes. The agencies aim to simplify how capital is calculated, better align requirements with underlying risk, and maintain the strength of the banking system, even as they project a modest decline in aggregate capital requirements compared to today's levels. Comments on all three proposals are due by June 18, 2026. Background In the years following the global financial crisis, U.S. regulators significantly raised both the quantity and quality of required loss-absorbing capital and introduced stress testing and other post-crisis reforms. After more than a decade of experience, however, the agencies concluded that elements of the capital framework had become overly complex, duplicative, or poorly calibrated, particularly given the variety of bank business models. The March 19 package reflects a comprehensive, "bottom-up" review intended to ensure that individual requirements are appropriate, risk-sensitive, and not producing unintended consequences. The proposals operate on three fronts. For the largest, most internationally active banks (Category I and II), the agencies would replace overlapping regimes with a single "expanded risk-based approach" that integrates credit, market, operational, and credit valuation adjustment (CVA) risk. For most other banks, the agencies would refine the standardized approach by recalibrating risk weights for core lending categories, e.g. residential mortgages, corporate exposures, and mortgage servicing assets, while preserving overall simplicity. Separately, the Federal Reserve would update the framework for setting the GSIB surcharge so that the additional capital required of the largest, most complex firms better reflects their systemic footprint and funding profile. Key Points The first proposal would streamline risk-based capital requirements for Category I and II organizations by eliminating the need to calculate both standardized and advanced approaches and instead requiring a single set of risk-based capital ratios under an expanded approach. That framework would explicitly incorporate standardized operational risk capital, updated market risk rules that rely on expected shortfall and more granular liquidity horizons, and a more risk-sensitive CVA regime targeted at firms with significant derivatives and trading activity. Other banks could opt into this approach, and the market risk framework would apply only to institutions with material trading operations. The second proposal would adjust the standardized approach for banks outside the very largest tier by making risk weights more sensitive to factors such as loan-to-value ratios for residential mortgages and credit quality indicators for retail and corporate exposures. Among the most notable changes, mortgage origination and servicing would face a more risk-appropriate capital treatment, mortgage servicing assets would no longer be deducted from CET1 but instead uniformly risk-weighted at 250%, and standardized risk weights for corporate and "other" exposures would decline modestly from 100% to 95% and 90%, respectively. Category III and IV institutions (roughly $100-$700 billion in assets) would also be required, subject to a five-year transition, to recognize most AOCI in regulatory capital, bringing interest-rate and valuation effects more directly into capital ratios. The third proposal would refine the GSIB surcharge framework by updating coefficients used in the "method 2" calculation, introducing an automatic adjustment mechanism for economic growth and inflation, and changing how key systemic indicators are measured and weighted. Short-term wholesale funding would be recalibrated, with the removal of risk-weighted assets from its denominator and a reset to a 20% weight, and certain indicators would be computed as averages over the year rather than on a single year-end date to reduce incentives for "window dressing." Surcharges would also be assigned in finer 10-basis-point increments, making them more responsive to incremental changes in a firm's risk profile. Across the three proposals, the agencies anticipate modest capital relief for large banks and somewhat greater relief for smaller banks, while keeping systemwide capital well above pre-crisis levels. These proposals are best viewed as a recalibration and simplification of the post-crisis regime, not a rollback. For the largest banks, a single expanded risk-based framework should reduce operational complexity and better integrate trading, derivatives, and operational risk into capital planning, even as the market risk and CVA changes keep pressure on tail-risk. For regional and community banks, the more risk-sensitive mortgage and corporate risk weights, uniform MSA treatment, and modest reductions in standardized weights could ease some capital-related headwinds to traditional lending and servicing. At the same time, the proposed AOCI recognition for Category III and IV firms and the refinements to the GSIB surcharge framework will make capital levels more sensitive to interest-rate risk, funding structures, and systemic footprint. Banking organizations should not assume a net "win" without conducting institution-specific impact analyses; the effects will vary materially by balance sheet structure, business mix, and interest-rate positioning. DISCLAIMER: Because of the generality of this update, the information provided herein may not be applicable in all situations and should not be acted upon without specific legal advice based on particular situations. Attorney Advertising. (C) Troutman Pepper Locke 2026

Twin Cities win JFK library Award for resisting ICE crackdown. Numerous recipients of the award over the past several years have received the honor for their resistance against Trump. * Published - March 24, 2026 Honest, paywall-free news is rare. Please support our boldly independent journalism with a donation of any size. On Thursday, the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library announced that the people of Minnesota's Twin Cities will receive the Profiles in Courage Award for their resistance to President Donald Trump's brutal immigration crackdown earlier this year. The annual award - named for a book written by President John F. Kennedy listing figures who displayed courage and political integrity throughout U.S. history - seeks to recognize individuals or groups of people who resist government abuses, oftentimes at the risk of their careers or lives. The presidential library said that the people of Saint Paul and Minneapolis are deserving of the honor for "risking their lives to protect their neighbors and immigrant community members from an unprecedented federal law enforcement operation, peacefully defending the human rights and values that serve as the foundation of our Constitutional democracy." Don't miss a beat. In December 2025, the Trump administration launched Operation Metro Surge, deploying over 3,000 agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and other agencies to Saint Paul and Minneapolis to carry out Trump's mass deportation agenda. Over the next two and a half months, federal agents terrorized and abducted immigrants and U.S.-born residents alike, denying people their due process rights and brutalizing protesters en masse, shooting and killing two people. Throughout the operation, residents of the Twin Cities organized to protect their community through multiple channels of resistance, launching a statewide general strike and consistently showing up in the tens of thousands to protest in sub-zero weather. As a result of their efforts, the White House eventually called off the operation, resulting in a dramatic drawback of federal agents in the cities in February 2026. The presidential library cited residents' efforts in announcing their Profiles in Courage award. "Tens of thousands took to the streets to peacefully protest federal overreach and threats to immigrant families and constitutional protections, while others documented enforcement activity and alerted neighbors to federal agents' presence," the library said in its statement, adding: Faith leaders organized demonstrations, community groups built rapid-response networks, labor leaders and small business defended workers, and volunteers provided critical support and resources. Across religious, racial, and political lines, a broad coalition of residents of the Twin Cities and surrounding suburbs united in peaceful resistance despite violent confrontation and real personal risk, defending their neighbors' rights and strengthening the national movement to protect American democracy. As it often does, the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library awarded a second Profiles in Courage recognition, this time to Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, citing his refusal to comply with Trump's demands to lower interest rates. "Despite relentless political pressure and unprecedented attempts to influence the Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell stood firm in his commitment to the institution's independence and the nation's economic stability," the library noted. Indeed, over the past several years, the Profiles in Courage award has been given to several individuals who refused to cooperate with schemes by Trump and his allies, including: * Mike Pence in 2025, for refusing to be involved in an effort to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election; * Former congresswoman Liz Cheney, Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, Rusty Bowers, an Arizona Republican who refused to take part in the fake electors scheme, and Georgia election worker Shaye Moss, all in 2022, for defending freedom (including taking principled stances against efforts to overturn election results disfavorable to Trump); * And Mitt Romney in 2021, for his decision to vote to convict Trump in the Senate trial following the attack on the U.S. Capitol. An urgent appeal for your support: 24 hours to raise $15,000. Truthout relies on individual donations to publish independent journalism, free from political and corporate influence. In fact, we're almost entirely funded by readers like you. Unfortunately, donations are down. At a moment when independent journalism is urgently needed, we are struggling to meet our operational costs due to increasing political censorship. Truthout may end this month in the red without additional help, so we've launched a fundraiser. We have 24 hours to hit our $15,000 goal. Please make a tax-deductible one-time or monthly donation if you can.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell receives Paul A. Volcker Public Integrity Award. Volcker Alliance and American Society for Public Administration honor Powell as a paragon of integrity in public service. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE New York, NY - March 23, 2026 On Saturday, March 21, the Volcker Alliance and the American Society for Public Administration (ASPA) awarded Federal Reserve Chair Jerome H. Powell the 2026 Paul A. Volcker Public Integrity Award. Powell graciously shared acceptance remarks, which can be viewed in full here. Named for the late Fed Chair Paul A. Volcker, who founded the Volcker Alliance, the award honors an individual who has made outstanding contributions to exemplary conduct in public service. It is presented annually at the ASPA annual conference and supported by a generous gift from Ray and Barbara Dalio. "Chairman Powell is a paragon of integrity in public service, now and throughout his career," said Sara Mogulescu, president of the Volcker Alliance. "He has advanced monetary policy grounded in economics and objective analysis, upholding a standard of faithful service impermeable to political pressure. The Volcker Alliance is honored to recognize him in our founder's name." Powell has served under four presidential administrations, Republican and Democrat alike, carrying out his duties - in his own words - "without political fear or favor." Before leading the Fed, he built a career spanning law, investment banking, and public service, including roles as Assistant Secretary and Under Secretary of the Treasury under President George H.W. Bush, a partnership at The Carlyle Group, and appointment to the Federal Reserve Board of Governors by President Obama. During his tenure as Chair of the Federal Reserve, Powell has navigated the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, confronted the highest levels of inflation in four decades, and maintained the Fed's independence amid extraordinary political pressure. Like Volcker before him, he has shown that public service sometimes demands more than making the right call. It demands making the right call when there is a cost to doing so. "Chairman Powell's efforts to ensure the independence and integrity of the Fed and his adherence to data-driven impartiality have been a guidepost of its decision-making process and have kept our nation's financial systems as stable as possible," said ASPA Executive Director and CEO Bill Shields. "This award recognizes those who choose the hard way because it is the right way; those who bring integrity to systems where obfuscation is easy; and those who speak for others who do not have a voice. We are proud to give the Chairman this award in honor of his efforts." Powell has spoken openly about the influence of the Volcker Alliance's late founder on his own approach to public service. He refers to Volcker as "the greatest economic public servant of the era" and has also invoked the title of Volcker's memoir, Keeping At It, as he pledged the Fed would "keep at it until the job is done." The parallels between these two leaders stretch beyond a shared job title. What connects them most deeply is the belief that when you are entrusted with serving the public, you do the work, guided not by political expediency but by courage and principle. "Ultimately, each of us will want to look back at the arc of our lives and know that we did what was the right thing," said Chairman Powell. "As Paul Volcker showed throughout his career, in the end, our integrity is all we have." About the American Society for Public Administration The American Society for Public Administration is the leading professional membership association for public service. Its members include federal, state and local government employees; researchers and scholars; students; nonprofit professionals; and others committed to advancing public service excellence in the United States and around the world. ASPA brings together the practitioner and academic communities to advance the practice and teaching of public administration through innovative in-person and online programming, leading and highly respected scholarship, more than 50 local chapters and 30 subject matter sections. About the Volcker Alliance The future of government will rely on a new generation of young, inspired professionals with the power and perspective to make change. Founded by former Federal Reserve Board Chairman Paul A. Volcker, the Volcker Alliance is a nonpartisan nonprofit helping build that next generation. The Volcker Alliance, Inc. help leaders of public service education strengthen their field, provide committed, change-driven students with professional pathways to government, and work with government to hire the next generation and tackle the challenges ahead. Media Inquiries, please contact: Idalis Foster | [email protected] | (347) 334-3727 Karen Garett | [email protected] | (202) 585-4313