Capital; Capital Adequacy Guidelines

The OCC, Board, and the FDIC (Agencies) are amending their respective risk-based capital guidelines to modify the definition of the OECD-based group of countries. The amendment excludes from the OECD-based group of countries any country that has rescheduled its external sovereign debt within the previous five years. The amendment also clarifies that the OECD-based group of countries includes all countries that are members of the OECD, regardless of their date of entry into the OECD. The effect of the amendment would be to increase the amount of capital that banks are required to hold against claims on the governments and banks of an OECD country, in the event that the country were to reschedule its external sovereign debt. This action is being taken to conform with a change in the Basle Accord on risk-based capital that was adopted by the Basle Committee on Banking Supervision (Basle Committee) on April 15, 1995.