On December 16, 2014, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (“OCC”) and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (“Board”) (collectively, “Agencies”) issued an interim final rule (“IFR”) amending the definition of “qualifying master netting agreement” (“QMNA”) under the Agencies’ regulatory capital and liquidity coverage ratio (“LCR”) rules, as well as under the OCC’s lending limits rule applicable to national banks and federal savings associations. The IFR also makes conforming amendments to the definitions of “collateral agreement,” “eligible margin loan,” and “repo-style transaction” under the capital rules.

The amendments are designed to ensure that the U.S. regulatory capital, liquidity and lending limits treatment of certain financial contracts will not be affected by implementation of special resolutions regimes in foreign jurisdictions or by the International Swaps and Derivative Association’s (“ISDA’s”) Resolution Stay Protocol, published in November 2014 by ISDA. The IFR amends the capital rules applicable to “banking organizations,” which include national banks, State member banks, savings associations and top-tier bank holding companies domiciled in the U.S. that are not subject to the Board’s Small Bank Holding Company Policy Statement, as well as top-tier savings and loan holding companies (with certain exceptions) domiciled in the U.S.