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August 24, 2014

Regulators say banks' 'living wills' not good enough


The Federal Reserve and FDIC "have jointly identified specific shortcomings with the 2013 resolution plans that will need to be addressed in the 2015 submissions."

From Fed/FDIC joint statement

Aug. 7, 2014 – The Federal Reserve and FDIC told 11 of the largest U.S. and foreign banks that their "living wills," or plans for their own wind-down in the case of insolvency, were not good enough to prevent a future financial crisis.

FDIC Vice Chairman Thomas Hoenig, quoted in Bloomberg, said the banks' current plans "demonstrate little ability to cope adequately with failure without some form of government support. The economy would almost surely go into crisis."

The 11 banks, including JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and Bank of America, are required to submit their own bankruptcy plans under the Dodd-Frank Act. The FDIC said the banks' 2013 plans were "not credible" and that they should develop a "less complex legal structure" and provide the regulatory agencies with more time to sort out a failing financial institution, the article stated.

The regulators "determined that the 11 banking organizations must take immediate action to improve their resolvability and reflect those improvements in their 2015 plans," according to their press statement.