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Fed Previews Overhaul of Bank Capital Rules to Make Standards More Risk‑Sensitive

A proposal expected next week would modestly ease requirements for many lenders by recalibrating mortgage and operational risk treatments.

A woman walks through the rain on Wall Street in New York, August 16, 2011. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo
A sign marks the intersection of Main Street and Wall Street in Windom, Texas, October 8, 2008. REUTERS/Jessica Rinaldi/File Photo
U.S. Federal Reserve Board Vice Chair Michelle Bowman testifies during a Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., February 26, 2026. REUTERS/Kylie Cooper/File Photo
U.S. Federal Reserve Board Vice Chair Michelle Bowman testifies during a Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee hearing on an update from the Prudential regulators, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., February 26, 2026. REUTERS/Kylie Cooper/File Photo

Overview

  • Federal Reserve Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman outlined a coordinated rewrite that removes overlapping capital requirements and streamlines risk-based calculations into a single approach.
  • Regulators plan to assign a 250% risk weight to mortgage‑servicing assets and end their deduction from regulatory capital to encourage bank participation in mortgage lending.
  • The Fed intends to recalibrate the GSIB surcharge by updating coefficients for economic growth, adjusting short‑term wholesale funding assumptions, and using averaged indicators to curb year‑end balance‑sheet window‑dressing.
  • Provisions include standardized operational risk calculations, net treatment of certain fee‑based activities such as credit cards, and a new credit valuation risk adjustment for banks with large derivatives exposure.
  • Bowman said the package would modestly lower capital needs for many banks and produce a small net decrease at the biggest firms after GSIB changes, with a formal proposal set for public comment following regulator votes.