T he Federal R eserve"s topregulationoffic-ial onW ednesdaycalledfor broadnew liquidityandcapital rulesfortheU .S . operationsoflargeforeign banks,that w ouldalign themw iththosefor A m ericanbanks andprotect thestill vulnerable financial system .
Inlate2008-inresponsetothefinancialcrisisthatbegan in theU nited Statesbutspreadglobally-theFedextendedhundreds ofbillions of dollars inem ergencyloans tosupporttheU .S . unitsof E uropeanbanksthat w ereshakenbythe deepturm oil. T hat stokedangerat banks,leadinginpart tothe2010D odd-Frankfinancial reform legislation.
T he2010D odd-Franklaw m andates thattheFedim posestricter capital,liquidityandother rules onlarge banks, includingforeignbanksw ith asignificant U .S . presence. T heFedput out adraft regulationfor U .S . bankslast year but upuntil now hasn"t unveileditsplans for foreignbanks.
Fedgovernor D aniel T arullo,thecentralbank"s point m anonbankingregulation,saidinaspeechN ov. 29that theFedw ill requireforeign banksw ith largeU .S . operationstohousetheirU.S . arm sin a bank holdingcom panystructuretoensurethat theforeignbanksm eet thesam ecapital requirem entsastheir U .S . com petitors.
T arullocharacterizedhis planas“a m iddlecourse”that w ould,effectively,let U .S .regulators stoprelyingonforeignoversight ofbanks doingbigbusiness inthe U nitedStates.
“Byim posingam orestandardizedregu-latory structureon theU.S . operationsofforeignbanks,w ecanensurethat enhancedprudential standardsareapplied consistentlyacrossforeignbanksandincom parablew aysbetw eenU .S . bankingorganizations andforeignbankingorganizations,”T arullotoldaY aleSchool of M anagem ent forum .
T hechangew ill affect foreignbanks thathadchangedtheir structures—or w ere contem -platingsuchchanges—inorder toduckhighercapital requirem ents im posedbyD odd-Frank .G erm any"s D eutscheBankandtheU .K ."sB arclays P L C both undertook corporaterestructurings inorder toavoidhavingtopum pinbillions of dollars intotheir A m ericanarm s.
Earlier this m onth,the Fedsaidit w oulddelaytheso-calledBasel III capital standardsbeyondaJanuary1,2013,deadline. T hatcaused ripplesglobally,prom pting som etow orrythat banks"intensivelobbyingeffortssucceededinw ateringdow nanddelayingpost-crisis reform s.