NEW YORK CITY (Alliance News) - The Federal Reserve Board on Wednesday announced it has not objected to the capital plans of 30 bank holding companies participating in the Comprehensive Capital Analysis and Review (CCAR). The Board objected to two firms' plans. One other firm's plan was not objected to, but the firm is being required to address certain weaknesses and resubmit its plan by the end of 2016.
The Federal Reserve did not object to the capital plans of Ally Financial Inc, American Express Co, BancWest Corp, Bank of America Corp, The Bank of New York Mellon Corp; BB&T Corporation; BBVA Compass Bancshares Inc.; BMO Financial Corp.; Capital One Financial Corp; Citigroup Inc; Citizens Financial Group; Comerica Inc; Discover Financial Services; Fifth Third Bancorp; Goldman Sachs Group Inc; HSBC North America Holdings Inc; Huntington Bancshares Inc; JP Morgan Chase & Co; Keycorp; M&T Bank Corporation; MUFG Americas Holdings Corp; Northern Trust Corp; The PNC Financial Services Group Inc; Regions Financial Corp; State Street Corp; SunTrust Banks Inc; TD Group US Holdings LLC; US Bancorp; Wells Fargo & Co; and Zions Bancorporation. M&T Bank Corp met minimum capital requirements on a post-stress basis after submitting an adjusted capital action.
The Federal Reserve did not object to the capital plan of Morgan Stanley, but is requiring the firm to submit a new capital plan by the end of the fourth quarter of 2016 to address certain weaknesses in its capital planning processes.
The Federal Reserve objected to the capital plans of Deutsche Bank Trust Corporation and Santander Holdings USA Inc based on qualitative concerns. The Federal Reserve did not object to any capital plans based on quantitative grounds.
US firms have substantially increased their capital since the first round of stress tests led by the Federal Reserve in 2009. The common equity capital ratio--which compares high-quality capital to risk-weighted assets--of the 33 bank holding companies in the 2016 CCAR has more than doubled from 5.5% in the first quarter of 2009 to 12.2% in the first quarter of 2016. This reflects an increase of more than USD700 billion in common equity capital to a total of USD1.2 trillion during the same period.
CCAR, in its sixth year, evaluates the capital planning processes and capital adequacy of the largest US-based bank holding companies, including the firms' planned capital actions such as dividend payments and share buybacks and issuances.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX