The Basel ii Compliance Professionals Association (BCPA), the largest association of Basel ii Professionals in the world, has a new member in the corporate family: The Basel iii Compliance Professionals Association (BiiiCPA).
 
You may visit the website of the association:

 

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Basel ii in the United States of America
from the Basel ii Compliance Professionals Association (BCPA), the largest association of Basel ii Professionals in the world

 

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Board), the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), and the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS) (collectively, the agencies) have adopted a new risk-based capital adequacy framework that is based on the Basel ii framework.

The agencies:

 

 

1. The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Board)

 

 

The Federal Reserve System is the central bank of the United States.

It was founded by Congress in 1913 to provide the nation with a safer, more flexible, and more stable monetary and financial system. Over the years, its role in banking and the economy has expanded.

Today, the Federal Reserve’s duties fall into four general areas:

1. Conducting the nation’s monetary policy by influencing the monetary and credit conditions in the economy in pursuit of maximum employment, stable prices, and moderate long-term interest rates
 
2. Supervising and regulating banking institutions to ensure the safety and soundness of the nation’s banking and financial system and to protect the credit rights of consumers
 
3. Maintaining the stability of the financial system and containing systemic risk that may arise in financial markets
 
4. Providing financial services to depository institutions, the U.S. government, and foreign official institutions, including playing a major role in operating the nation’s payments system.
 
Most developed countries have a central bank whose functions are broadly similar to those of the Federal Reserve.

The oldest, Sweden’s Riksbank, has existed since 1668 and the Bank of England since 1694.
Napoleon I established the Banque de France in 1800, and the Bank of Canada began operations in 1935.

The German Bundesbank was reestablished after World War II and is loosely modeled on the Federal Reserve.

More recently, some functions of the Banque de France and the Bundesbank have been assumed by the European Central Bank, formed in 1998.

 

2. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC)

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) charters, regulates, and supervises all US national banks.

It also supervises the federal branches and agencies of foreign banks.

Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the OCC has four district offices plus an office in London to supervise the international activities of national banks.

The OCC was established in 1863 as a bureau of the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

The OCC is headed by the Comptroller , who is appointed by the President, with the advice and consent of the Senate, for a five-year term.

The Comptroller also serves as a director of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and a director of the Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation.

The OCC's nationwide staff of examiners conducts on-site reviews of national banks and provides sustained supervision of bank operations.

The agency issues rules, legal interpretations, and corporate decisions concerning banking, bank investments, bank community development activities, and other aspects of bank operations.

3. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) preserves and promotes public confidence in the U.S. financial system by insuring deposits in banks and thrift institutions for at least $250,000; by identifying, monitoring and addressing risks to the deposit insurance funds; and by limiting the effect on the economy and the financial system when a bank or thrift institution fails.

An independent agency of the federal government, the FDIC was created in 1933 in response to the thousands of bank failures that occurred in the 1920s and early 1930s. Since the start of FDIC insurance on January 1, 1934, no depositor has lost a single cent of insured funds as a result of a failure.

The FDIC receives no Congressional appropriations – it is funded by premiums that banks and thrift institutions pay for deposit insurance coverage and from earnings on investments in U.S. Treasury securities.

With an insurance fund totaling more than $45 billion, the FDIC insures more than $5 trillion of deposits in U.S. banks and thrifts – deposits in virtually every bank and thrift in the country.

Savings, checking and other deposit accounts, when combined, are generally insured to $250,000 per depositor in each bank or thrift the FDIC insures. The standard insurance amount of $250,000 per depositor is in effect through December 31, 2013. On January 1, 2014, the standard insurance amount will return to $100,000 per depositor for all account categories except IRAs and other certain retirement accounts, which will remain at $250,000 per depositor. Deposits held in different categories of ownership – such as single or joint accounts – may be separately insured. The FDIC's Electronic Deposit Insurance Estimator can help you determine if you have adequate deposit insurance for your accounts.

The FDIC insures deposits only. It does not insure securities, mutual funds or similar types of investments that banks and thrift institutions may offer. (Insured and Uninsured Investments distinguishes between what is and is not protected by FDIC insurance.)

The FDIC directly examines and supervises about 5,160 banks and savings banks, more than half of the institutions in the banking system. Banks can be chartered by the states or by the federal government. Banks chartered by states also have the choice of whether to join the Federal Reserve System. The FDIC is the primary federal regulator of banks that are chartered by the states that do not join the Federal Reserve System. In addition, the FDIC is the back-up supervisor for the remaining insured banks and thrift institutions.

The FDIC employs about 5,000 people. It is headquartered in Washington, D.C., but conducts much of its business in six regional offices and in field offices around the country.

4. The Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS)

The OTS is the federal bank regulator and supervisor of a dynamic and diverse industry of savings associations and their subsidiaries spread across the nation.

The OTS also oversees domestic and international activities of the holding companies and affiliates that own these thrift institutions.

The OTS is an office within the Department of the Treasury.

The OTS supervises a national thrift industry that is built on the bedrock of the American dream of homeownership—supplying affordable home financing for Americans from all walks of life.

The industry has a long history dating back to 1831 with the establishment of the first savings association, the Oxford Provident Building Association, which made home loans and offered savings accounts.

Three advantages of the federal thrift charter foster this diversification:

Branching – The thrift charter offers institutions a distinctive capability to branch nationwide, without restriction or condition, under a single charter.

Consolidated Supervision – The thrift charter is unique because savings and loan holding companies and their thrift subsidiaries can operate under the consolidated regulatory supervision of a single federal regulator - the OTS.

Uniform Regulatory Framework – Uniform federal laws under the thrift charter require safe and sound operations, and appropriate consumer protections, without subjecting insitutions to the wide array of different or conflicting state and local statues.