Randal Quarles

The Federal Reserve on Thursday released the 2020 stress testing scenarios that it will use to evaluate the safety and soundness of 34 banks with more than $100 billion of total assets.

The new regulation aims to standardize the process for determining if those owning less than a quarter of a bank must comply with holding company requirements.

In another rollback of the bank trading ban, the federal agencies unveiled a plan to allow financial institutions to invest in multiple companies through certain fund structures.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said he was “comfortable” with a recent speech by Gov. Lael Brainard objecting to significant aspects of the Community Reinvestment Act plan proposed by the OCC and FDIC.

The central bank’s top regulatory official laid out a comprehensive set of proposals to update how the agency supervises banks — particularly large institutions — with an eye toward improving transparency.

The central bank is aiming to finish a rule creating a streamlined capital buffer ahead of the upcoming round of stress testing, but industry experts say that timeline may be too ambitious.

After declining to support the proposal drafted by the OCC and FDIC, the Federal Reserve could issue its own framework or just keep the current CRA regime.

With adjustments to the post-crisis regulatory framework now complete, the Federal Reserve may begin the decade year with a focus on supervisory and examination processes.

The Fed chairman said he has not given up on the central bank agreeing with other regulatory agencies on a plan to modernize the Community Reinvestment Act, but admitted, "I don’t know whether that will be possible or not.”

A day after House Democrats urged the banking agencies to unite behind a joint plan to update the Community Reinvestment Act, Senate Democrats worried that an impending proposal from the OCC and FDIC will reduce access to credit.