Regulatory Roundup: Important, Not Imminent

BANK POWERS: The Comptroller of the Currency appears to have put on hold its proposal to let national banks conduct new activities through subsidiaries. Currently, nonbank products and services are offered through holding company subsidiaries, not bank units. Proposed Nov. 29. Comments were due Jan. 28. The agency's approach is the opposite of several bills pending on Capitol Hill to repeal the Glass-Steagall Act. INTEREST RATE RISK: Regulators continue to grapple with plans to incorporate interest rate risk into capital standards. Eighteen months ago, the three banking agencies published a proposal that was pounded by the industry. Because they cannot agree on a new plan, the agency officials have been saying for months that they would issue a revised proposal, but nothing has surfaced. RECOURSE II: Another forever-in-the-works regulation. The agencies are trying to decide how much capital banks should have to hold against assets sold with recourse. A two-tiered proposal was issued for comment in May 1994. Comments are due July 25. Though the agencies regularly discuss the issue, no consensus has developed. PREMIUM BASE: The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has taken the first step - an advance notice of proposed rulemaking - toward changing the way it calculates how much institutions should pay for deposit insurance. The proposal seeks ideas for adding other liabilities to the domestic deposits that now make up the assessment base or for converting the base to assets. Narrower changes that have been suggested include eliminating the current float and measuring domestic deposits by quarterly average.