Banking regulators announced on Monday that they will consider changes to the implementation timeline for stress testing required by the Dodd-Frank Act.  The revision under consideration by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Federal Reserve Board and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, would delay implementation for covered institutions with total consolidated assets of between $10 billion and $50 billion until September 2013.

In January, proposed rulemaking to implement section 165(i) of the Dodd-Frank Act was published in the Federal Register. As written, it mandated certain financial companies—including national banks, federal savings associations,bank holding companies, state member banks, and savings and loan holding companies—to conduct annual stress tests in accordance with newly established guidelines. It required the first stress tests, using financial statement data as of September 30, 2012, to be reported in January 2013.

That timeline was met with industry concerns about resources and readiness given the likely short period between publication of a final rule and the start of the stress-testing process. The regulators, in a statement, said they agreed that a delay to September 2013 “would help ensure that all covered institutions have sufficient time to develop sound stress testing programs.”

Covered institutions with assets greater than $50 billion would still be expected to begin conducting annual stress tests under the rule this year, although delays could be granted on a case-by-case basis. 

The final implementation timeline for all covered institutions will be specified in the final rule.