U.S. to propose new bank capital rule changes as early as this month: Bloomberg

The U.S. financial regulators are set to unveil a slew of revisions to the proposed new bank capital standards as soon as Sept. 19, after the initial proposals introduced in mid-2023 faced pushback from the sector, Bloomberg News reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

The changes, which run up to 450 pages, cover areas spanning from the nation’s biggest lenders to large regional banks and address a key component in U.S. banking regulations known as Basel III Endgame, according to the report.

In July 2023, the three big U.S. banking regulators, the Federal Reserve, the Office of Comptroller of the Currency, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, proposed further increases in required capital across a broader range of U.S. banks (known as the “Basel III Endgame”).

The revised proposals follow intense lobbying efforts from Wall Street banks, which argued that increasing their capital requirements under the previous proposals would weaken the U.S. banking sector and raise lending costs.

After the publication of rejiggered proposals, a comment period is expected to follow to seek responses on how the changes compare with the initial draft.

Biggest U.S. regional banks include U.S. Bancorp (USB), PNC Financial (PNC), Truist Financial (TFC), and Regions Financial (RF).

JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Bank of America (BAC), Citigroup (C), Goldman Sachs (GS), Morgan Stanley (MS), and Wells Fargo (WFC) are some of the nation’s largest banks.

Banking related indices include: The KBW Bank Index (BKX) The KBW Nasdaq Regional Banking Index (KRX)