On Oct. 19, 2017, the U.S Government Accountability Office (the "GAO"), the investigative arm of Congress, has ruled that the 2013 Interagency Leveraged Lending Guidance was not "guidance', but in fact a rule that should have been subject to Congressional approval under the 1996 Congressional Review Act.
In March, U.S. Senator Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania requested the GAO ruling to decide if the Guidance was in fact a rule.
"It is a rule subject to the requirements of the CRA," the GAO said in a letter to Toomey today.
While the full implications of the GAO determination are uncertain, it is likely that the onerous restrictions on and regulatory interference with leveraged lending that regulated banks have endured since 2013 will be dramatically eased, although the timing such easing is uncertain.
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