Fed’s Barr Says Changes to Capital Rules Likely to Be Significant

The Federal Reserve’s top banking regulator said there will likely be significant changes to a controversial plan to force big lenders to hold more capital — another signal that Wall Street’s efforts to scuttle the initial proposal are succeeding.

Michael Barr, the Fed’s vice chair for supervision, said Friday that criteria related to operational, market and credit risks could be adjusted. The sweeping proposal, which was released last July, sparked a fierce lobbying campaign by some of the biggest players in finance.

“We expect to have a set of broad and material changes to the rule” to achieve consensus on the Fed Board and among other regulators, Barr said at an event at the University of Michigan.

Barr’s comments about looming adjustments largely echoed those of Fed Chair Jerome Powell earlier this month. Still, Barr is thought of as the chief architect of the July plan.

“I am working very closely with Chair Powell and other members of our Federal Reserve board to try to reach a broad consensus,” Barr said Friday.

Under the July plan, the eight largest banks would face about a 19% increase, with lenders between $100 billion and $250 billion in assets seeing as little as 5% more, government officials have said. Banks have argued they are already well-capitalized to withstand a crisis and that the changes would ultimately hurt consumers.

The proposal from the Fed, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency is tied to the Basel III international overhaul that started more than a decade ago. Supporters have also billed it as a fix for some of the issues exposed by the failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank.