Banking organizations required to file resolution plans, or “living wills,” received some additional instruction this past Tuesday, July 3, 2012, when the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (“FDIC”) and the Federal Reserve Board (the “Board”) released the public portions of the living wills that had been submitted on July 2, 2012. These submissions marked the first wave of filings, those by nine banking institutions with U.S. operations and $250 billion or more in nonbank assets.

The living wills are required by section 165(d) of the Dodd-Frank Act, and the requirement extends to all banking organizations with $50 billion or more in consolidated assets. The $50 billion threshold applies to assets located outside the United States as well as within; as a result, more than 90 foreign banking organizations (“FBOs”) are expected to file resolution plans. The next wave of filings will come ashore on July 1, 2013, when banking organizations with $100 billion or more in total nonbank assets must submit living wills. The remainder of the organizations subject to the requirement must submit living wills by December 31, 2013.