The US subsidiary of BNP Paribas could soon be unshackled from the stress capital buffer (SCB), freeing up billions as a result – a looming tightening in US prudential requirements notwithstanding.

Following the sale of Bank of the West a year ago, the bank’s intermediate holding company (IHC) was able to shrink some of its systemic risk indicators low enough to be primed to escape category IV of the Federal Reserve’s tailoring framework, the last tier of lenders to which the SCB applies.