Federal bank regulators made a tool available on Wednesday to help banks calculate capital requirements for securitization exposures.
The spreadsheet tool uses the Basel III simplified supervisory formula approach to securities which applies higher capital requirements to riskier tranches of securities and less capital to more senior tranches that are less risky.
The Federal Reserve Board, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. coordinated in the publishing of the tool.
The tool "helps banks calculate risk-based capital for securitization exposures and helps reduce potential burden," the OCC said in a bulletin.
The FDIC added in a letter that the tool was made available to "reduce potential burden" for banks.
The regulators said they continue to expect bank to have a thorough understanding of their securitization exposures and be able to meet due diligence requirements.
