From a high level overview, all of the institutions agreed that the regulatory agencies are still trying to get a handle on the latest legislation and this was echoed by a senior level person from the FDIC - "that one year after Dodd Frank, the rules were still 'ripening'." Especially in regards to an institution having a "Living Will." More oversight and authority has been given to the FDIC and the creation of the Office of Complex Financial Institutions has bolstered the oversight with banks "To Big To Fail." The transparency of these banks is becoming much improved. The far reaching tentacles of Lehman Brothers non-banking divisions drove it into bankruptcy and lack of transparency has had a far reaching effect. Much more emphasis is being placed on a bank's insolvency/distress plan and understanding the legal entity.
The regulators have begun taking a much more consultative approach and all the institutions polled said that having these ongoing communications with their prospective regulators has helped with ERM. The carrot and the stick approach is being replaced by open ended discussions, whereby the bank and regulators really have the ability to explain and understand the processes put in place.
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