The federal banking agencies jointly issued a final rule that provides for an optional, simplified measure of capital adequacy, the community bank leverage ratio framework, for qualifying community banking organizations. This final rule is applicable to most FDIC-supervised institutions with less than $10 billion in total consolidated assets.

The community bank leverage ratio (CBLR) final rule was effective Jan. 1, 2020, and allows qualifying community banking organizations to calculate a leverage ratio to measure capital adequacy. Banks opting into the CBLR framework will not be required to calculate or report risk-based capital.

If you are not yet familiar with the CBLR, please take some time to review our short summary. This flier provides the criteria necessary to qualify beyond the $10 billion in consolidated assets mentioned above. It also discusses the Wilary Winn Accounting and Regulatory Guidance manual available to all members free of charge at www.wilwinn.com  under Resources. Here, you can receive additional information on the reporting process and what figures should be included.

As always, we continue to work for ways to make the Mortgage Partnership Finance® (MPF®) Program a more user-friendly product for our member institutions. Please contact our MPF team with any questions at  866.571.8171 or   mpfmail@fhlbtopeka.com.

"Mortgage Partnership Finance" and "MPF" are registered trademarks of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago.