By Pete Schroeder, Saeed Azhar, Davide Barbuscia
WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) -The banking industry is optimistic that U.S. regulators will soon move to change how much capital they set aside against typically safe investments, particularly after the turmoil in Treasury markets last month.
Such a move to revamp the “supplementary leverage ratio” could reduce the amount of cash banks must reserve, freeing them up for more lending or other activities, and could incentivize banks to play a larger role in intermediating Treasury markets.
“Current leverage-based capital requirements are outdated and at odds with financial stability and economic growth. Reform is needed quickly to better serve U.S. taxpayers, capital markets, consumers, businesses, and the economy,” said Kevin Fromer, the president and CEO of the Financial Services Forum, which represents the nation’s largest banks.
Regulators have flagged the SLR as meriting reconsideration and are mulling whether to tweak the rule’s formula to reduce big banks’ burdens or provide relief for extremely safe investments, like Treasury bonds. The debate is driving industry hopes that agencies could as soon as this summer propose an overhaul, according to three sources familiar with the matter. Bank lobby groups, including the Forum and the Bank Policy Institute, which also represents larger banks, have been pushing for the change.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told lawmakers last week that a revamp was a “high priority” for the three regulatory bodies charged with the rule: the Federal Reserve, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.
Banks have argued for years that the SLR, established after the 2007-2009 financial crisis, should be reformed. They contend it was meant to serve as a baseline, requiring banks to hold capital against even very safe assets, but has grown over time to become a binding constraint on bank lending.
BPI President and CEO Greg Baer called reform “overdue and welcome” in a statement to Reuters.
When asked by Congress in February if the leverage requirements discouraged banks from helping intermediate the Treasury market, Fed Chair Jerome Powell agreed, and said it was time to revisit the issue.
Such reforms are on a long wishlist the banking industry hopes to advance with the Trump administration, which has made deregulation to spur economic growth a top priority.
Spokespeople for the Fed, FDIC and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, which shares responsibility for the SLR, declined to comment.
OPTIONS DEBATED
Currently, all banks are required to hold 3% of their capital against their leverage exposure, which is their assets and other off-balance sheet items like derivatives. The largest global banks must hold an extra 2% as well in what is known as the “enhanced supplementary leverage ratio.”
Regulators could provide relief by simply exempting Treasury bonds and central bank deposits from calculations of the SLR. That is the approach the Fed took when it provided temporary emergency relief during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Or, in what three industry sources believe is a more likely option, they could look at tweaking the “enhanced” SLR, which instead of exempting Treasuries broadly refines the formula, resulting in a lower ratio. Regulators tried to ease that requirement in 2018, during President Donald Trump’s first term in the White House, setting the extra capital based on a bank’s specific risk profile, but it ultimately failed to advance.
The largest banks, which are also the most prominent Treasury market participants, would stand to benefit most directly from the second option.
Banks hope any leverage relief coincides with a broader push to overhaul other capital requirements, including the so-called “GSIB surcharge” applied to the largest, most complex banks, and an ongoing effort to overhaul annual “stress tests” of big bank finances.
While discussing quarterly earnings last month, several bank executives touted SLR reform alongside other capital relief.
“The SLR requires us to hold capital to level against riskless assets and Treasuries and cash; that doesn’t make a lot of sense,” Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan said in April.
Proponents of the SLR argue it is critical to have a tool that is blind to risk as a key backstop, and a simple, direct requirement on leverage can help ensure no dangers are overlooked.
But such relief could potentially lend more liquidity to Treasury markets, which have struggled to function amid periods of intense stress.
The $29 trillion Treasury market, a cornerstone of the global financial system, saw an aggressive selloff in April, sending U.S. borrowing costs higher.
Market expectations about potential reform helped push the spread of swap rates over Treasuries higher in recent months, as Trump’s victory in the November 5 presidential election fueled hopes of broader deregulation in financial markets.
Swap spreads, which reflect the gap between the fixed rate on an interest rate swap and the yield on a comparable Treasury security, are often used to hedge or bet on shifts in rates.
They tightened dramatically, however, during the bond selloff that followed Trump’s April 2 “Liberation Day” tariff announcement.
(Reporting by Pete Schroeder and Davide Barbuscia; Additional reporting by Saeed Azhar, Nupur Anand and Tatiana Bautzer; Editing by Megan Davies and Paul Simao)
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