Global Financial Markets

While the recent US Basel Endgame proposal will affect many elements of the capital rules, it will have a particularly significant effect on market risk, where it may increase the capital requirement by more than 50%. Midsize and larger US banking organizations and others with significant trading activity also will need to develop extensive position identification, modeling, and governance systems to comply with new market risk requirements. Smaller banking organizations, while not required to hold capital for market risk, will at least need to implement revised position identification processes to ensure that they do not become subject to this part of the proposal.

Please join Mayer Brown partners Jeffrey Taft and Matthew Bisanz for a discussion of the proposed market risk requirements and key issues banking organizations should consider during the comment period.

In late July 2023, US banking agencies released proposals to significantly revise the risk-based regulatory capital requirements for certain midsize and larger US banking organizations. These proposals would have a critical impact on the banking industry, as the amount of capital a bank must maintain with respect to any particular loan, investment or activity is typically a significant—if not the most significant—factor in determining whether an activity is profitable, or even feasible. The proposals are not “capital neutral,” and may increase the capital charge for several aspects of the commercial real estate finance sector.

Please join Mayer Brown partners Eric Reilly, Miller Smith, and Matthew Bisanz for an in-depth discussion of the proposed requirements and what they mean for CRE.

The US federal banking regulators have jointly proposed long-term debt (“LTD”) requirements for certain midsize and larger US banking organizations. The LTD proposal would require many regional and larger banking organizations to issue approximately $70 billion of new LTD over the three-year implementation period. Additionally, affected organizations would need to restructure their top-tier holding company activities to comply with the clean holding company requirements, and conform funding arrangements with most subsidiary depository institutions to implement internal LTD measures.

Please join Mayer Brown partners Anna Pinedo, Christopher Chubb, and Matthew Bisanz for a high-level discussion of the proposed requirements and how banking organizations may respond.

Since the CFPB’s small business data collection rule became effective earlier this year, small business lenders have been making plans to implement the new and extensive data collection requirements. At the same time, the final rule has been the subject of litigation, with several financial institutions and trade associations suing the CFPB to enjoin the rule’s implementation. On July 31, a Texas court granted a preliminary injunction preventing the CFPB from implementing or enforcing the rule against the plaintiffs and their members. Please join Mayer Brown partners Tori Shinohara and Frank Doorley, with special guest Kate Rock of Guidehouse, for an update on the pending litigation, and a discussion of compliance considerations for lenders in the process of developing policies, procedures and processes to comply with the final rule.

The US federal banking regulators have jointly proposed extensive revisions to the regulatory capital requirements for midsize and larger US banking organizations. While these revisions will affect nearly all credit exposures, securitization exposures will be significantly affected by certain policy choices. Securitizations historically have benefited from highly favorable risk weights (albeit under strictly defined circumstances), and the revisions are expected to make this relief more complicated (and potentially more expensive) to obtain. Some of this is driven by corresponding revisions to international capital standards from 2017, but other aspects are driven by long-term skepticism among US regulators and an unwillingness to be seen as granting concessions to the industry.

Please join Mayer Brown lawyers Stuart Litwin, Christopher Horn, and Matthew Bisanz for a discussion of how the proposed revisions may impact securitization and structured finance.

In late July 2023, the US banking agencies released proposals to significantly revise the risk-based regulatory capital requirements for certain midsize and larger US banking organizations and change the method for calculating the capital surcharge for global systemically important banking organizations.These proposals are of critical importance because the amount of capital a bank must maintain with respect to any particular loan, investment or activity is typically a significant—if not the most significant—factor in determining whether the relationship is profitable or even feasible.The proposals are not “capital neutral” and would effectively increase the need for capital in a number of important respects.Please join Mayer Brown partners Anna Pinedo and Matt Bisanz as they focus on the implications of the Basel Endgame Proposal on capital and on capital markets related activities.

The primary mortgage market recently has flattened, with rising interest rates and fewer homes on the market. However, these factors, coupled with home price appreciation, have created a space for alternatives to traditional residential mortgage financing. These include single family rental (SFR), rent-to-own and home equity option contracts, i-buying, and home equity lines of credits (HELOCs).

Many of these products come with specific consumer regulatory and compliance requirements—plus the familiar residential mortgage regulations, which may apply differently to each product. And with the US primary home market sitting on an unprecedented amount of home equity, we expect that interest in these products will only continue to grow and that financing them will be of immediate and keen interest to market participants.

Please join us for the final episode of our three-part podcast series, where Mayer Brown partners Susannah Schmid, Dave Linley and Frank Doorley for a high-level review of these products: what they are, how they are financed in warehouses and securitizations, and what the consumer finance regulatory requirements are for each.

The US federal banking regulators have jointly proposed extensive revisions to the regulatory capital requirements for midsize and larger US banking organizations. The revisions are lengthy and would change the requirements for credit, market, and operational risk. Some of the revisions are long-expected (e.g., re-evaluation of use of internal models), but others are novel (e.g., capital charge for operational risk) or driven in response to the recent banking crisis. Further, the revisions are expected to materially increase the amount of capital that many larger banking organizations must hold, which may lead to a decline in bank lending and bank trading activities. 

Mayer Brown partners Matthew Bisanz and Jeffrey Taft have a high-level discussion of the proposed revisions. Future episodes will explore how the revisions may affect securitization, capital markets, and fund finance. 

In recent years, the US mortgage markets have faced mounting pressure from rising interest rates, declining originations, and heightened regulation. In part two of our three-part podcast series on the current state of the US mortgage markets, Mayer Brown experts will discuss the current challenging environment for mortgage origination, as well as recent trends seen in the RMBS and CMBS securitization markets. Listeners can also expect updates on recent improvements to the Ginnie Mae securitization programs, as well as developments we have observed in the MSR market. Please join Mayer Brown partners Krista Cooley, Eric Edwardson, Haukur Gudmundsson and Miller Smith as they discuss these updates and offer their thoughts on what’s to come.