Regulators Allow Large Foreign Banks More Time on Next 'Living Wills'

U.S. regulators said they will give four large foreign-owned banks an additional year to file revised "living wills" showing how their U.S. units could go through bankruptcy without a taxpayer bailout.

Barclays PLC, Credit Suisse Group AG, UBS Group AG, and Deutsche Bank AG will have until July 2017 to file their next bankruptcy plans, the Federal Reserve and Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said. The previous deadline was July 1 of this year.

The agencies said the change came in light of a requirement that foreign- owned banks create single holding companies for all their U.S. operations by next month. The new holding company structures "are likely to affect the firms' resolution plans and strategies," the regulators said in a press release. "Resolution" is regulatory jargon for the process of handling a failing bank.

The four firms have been waiting since last year for feedback on living wills they submitted in 2015. The agencies said they still intended to provide that feedback, though they didn't specify whether the comments would be public.

The four firms have been anxiously awaiting that feedback because in 2014, they were told their living wills had deficiencies that raise questions about whether they could fail without a bailout.

If the firms can't address regulators' concerns, they could face sanctions, such as higher capital requirements or forced divestitures.

Write to Ryan Tracy at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 08, 2016 09:25 ET (13:25 GMT)

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