So much for the strict, evil Volcker Rule which was a “victory for regulators” and its requirement that banks dispose of TruPS CDOs. Recall a month, when it was revealed that various regional banks would need to dispose of their TruPS CDO portfolios, we posted “As First Volcker Rule Victim Emerges, Implications Could “Roil The Market“.” Well, the market shall remain unroiled because last night by FDIC decree, the TruPS CDO provision was effectively stripped from the rule.
This is what came out of the FDIC last night: “Five federal agencies on Tuesday approved an interim final rule to permit banking entities to retain interests in certain collateralized debt obligations backed primarily by trust preferred securities (TruPS CDOs) from the investment prohibitions of section 619 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, known as the Volcker rule.”
In other words, the first unintended consequences of the Volcker Rule was just neutralized after the ABA and assorted banks screamed against it.
But that’s not all.
As SIFMA announced today, the banks have more demands. To wit from Bloomberg:
“While we welcome the relief provided to certain holders of TruPS CDOs, we believe that regulators must address the larger problem of the inclusion of senior debt securities issued by collateralized loan obligations in the Volcker Rule’s prohibitions,” Securities Industry and Financial Markets Assoc. CEO Kenneth Bentsen says in statement. If not addressed, corporate borrowers may face higher credit costs, banks may endure “unnecessary losses wholly unrelated to the risk of the CLOs themselves, but rather due to the technical language of the final Volcker Rule.” Sifma encourages regulators to issue guidance clarifying that banks may hold CLO debt securities.
So TruPS “fixed”, and now comes the turn of the CLO exclusion. We give “regulators” 2-4 weeks before they fold on this demand as well, and soon on all other unintended Volcker consequences that the banks find cause “unnecessary losses.”
One wonders: just what in the view of ABA or SIFMA are necessary losses?
From the FDIC press release
Agencies Approve Interim Final Rule Authorizing Retention of Interests in and Sponsorship of Collateralized Debt Obligations Backed Primarily by Bank-Issued Trust Preferred Securities
Five federal agencies on Tuesday approved an interim final rule to permit banking entities to retain interests in certain collateralized debt obligations backed primarily by trust preferred securities (TruPS CDOs) from the investment prohibitions of section 619 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, known as the Volcker rule.
Under the interim final rule, the agencies permit the retention of an interest in or sponsorship of covered funds by banking entities if the following qualifications are met:
- the TruPS CDO was established, and the interest was issued, before May 19, 2010;
- the banking entity reasonably believes that the offering proceeds received by the TruPS CDO were invested primarily in Qualifying TruPS Collateral; and
- the banking entity’s interest in the TruPS CDO was acquired on or before December 10, 2013, the date the agencies issued final rules implementing section 619 of the Dodd-Frank Act.
The federal banking agencies on Tuesday also released a non-exclusive list of issuers that meet the requirements of the interim final rule.
The interim final rule defines Qualifying TruPS Collateral as any trust preferred security or subordinated debt instrument that was:
- issued prior to May 19, 2010, by a depository institution holding company that as of the end of any reporting period within 12 months immediately preceding the issuance of such trust preferred security or subordinated debt instrument had total consolidated assets of less than $15 billion; or
- issued prior to May 19, 2010, by a mutual holding company.
Section 171 of the Dodd-Frank Act provides for the grandfathering of trust preferred securities issued before May 19, 2010, by certain depository institution holding companies with total assets of less than $15 billion as of December 31, 2009, and by mutual holding companies established as of May 19, 2010. The TruPS CDO structure was the vehicle that gave effect to the use of trust preferred securities as a regulatory capital instrument prior to May 19, 2010, and was part of the status quo that Congress preserved with the grandfathering provision of section 171.
The interim final rule also provides clarification that the relief relating to these TruPS CDOs extends to activities of the banking entity as a sponsor or trustee for these securitizations and that banking entities may continue to act as market makers in TruPS CDOs.
The interim final rule was approved by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and the Securities and Exchange Commission, the same agencies that issued final rules to implement section 619. The agencies will accept comment on the interim final rule for 30 days following publication of the interim final rule in the Federal Register.
Attachments:
Interim Final Rule – PDF
via Zero Hedge http://ift.tt/1aohqcG Tyler Durden