A new rule requires the nation’s mega-banks to prepare a plan that would help the government liquidate them if they ever became insolvent.
Impacted depository institutions include those with assets of at least $50 billion.
Around 37 insured depository institutions are affected by the rule.
Deposits held by the group total $3.6 trillion, and their combined market share is 60 percent of U.S. deposits.
The interim final rule was approved Tuesday by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.
In a statement, the FDIC noted that the institutions are required to submit periodic contingency plans for resolution in the event of their failures. The rule additionally requires a strategic analysis of the plan’s components, description of the strategies for achieving the least costly resolution and analyses of the organization, material entities and web of affiliated entities. Management information systems are among other elements analyzed.
Resolution plans will enable the FDIC, as receiver, to resolve the bank’s deposits and get depositors their money within one business day of a failure. The plans will also maximize returns on seized assets and minimize creditor losses.
“The rule seeks to address a key lesson from the recent financial crisis that resolution plans for large and complex insured depository intuitions are essential for their orderly and least-cost resolution,” the FDIC said.
FDIC Acting Chairman Martin J. Gruenberg said that the rule is intended to compliment the joint rulemaking approved today by the FDIC with the Federal Reserve pursuant to Section 165(d) of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.
Comments are being accepted for 60 days, and the rule becomes effective on Jan. 1, 2012.
