Federal Reserve Releases Proposed Guidance on Sound Incentive Compensation Policies

Today, the Federal Reserve released for comment proposed guidance on incentive compensation applicable to all banking organizations under its supervision. The proposal includes two supervisory initiatives. The first, applicable to 28 “large, complex banking organizations,” will involve a review each organization’s policies and practices to determine their consistency with the guidance described below. The organization-specific policies will be assessed by supervisors in a special coordinated “horizontal review.” The press release issued with the proposed guidance states that ”[t]he policies and implementing practices adopted by these firms in response to the final supervisory principles will become a part of the supervisory expectations for each firm and will be monitored for compliance.” The second initiative will involve a review of compensation practices at regional, community, and other banking organizations not classified as large and complex, as part of the regular, risk-focused examination process. These reviews will be tailored to take account of the size, complexity, and other characteristics of the banking organization.

The guidance is designed to apply to the compensation of: (1) senior executives and others responsible for oversight of an organization’s firm-wide activities or material business lines; (2) individual employees, including non-executive employees, whose activities may expose the organization to material amounts of risk; and (3) groups of employees who are subject to the same or similar incentive compensation arrangements and who, in the aggregate, may expose the organization to material amounts of risk. Alongside the proposed guidance, the Fed released six Q&As. The Q&As state that the Fed has issued the proposed guidance under its authority to monitor the “safety and soundness” of institutions subject to its oversight. The Q&As also note that the proposed guidance is “consistent with” the Financial Stability Board’s Implementation Standards for its Principles for Sound Compensation Practices, which were released last month in conjunction with the G-20 Summit in Pittsburgh. The FSB was organized at the direction of the G-20 in order to address vulnerabilities and develop and implement strong regulatory policies in the interest of financial stability. The United States is the first G-20 nation to issue detailed guidance on compensation practices since the FSB’s Implementation Standards were released. The Q&As provide that comments on the proposed guidance will be accepted for 30 days.

We will continue to monitor the Fed’s proposed guidance and provide updates of any material developments.

Please call any of your regular contacts at the firm or any of our partners and counsel listed under Executive Compensation and Employee Benefits if you have any questions about these matters.