Regulatory Matters

6 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2016

Regulatory Capital Requirements [Abstract]

Regulatory Matters

Regulatory Matters

Pursuant to the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010, or the Reform Act, in July 2013, the federal bank regulatory agencies, or the Agencies, issued final rules, or the Final Capital Rules, that subjected many savings and loan holding companies, including Astoria Financial Corporation, to consolidated capital requirements effective January 1, 2015. The Final Capital Rules also revised the quantity and quality of required minimum risk-based and leverage capital requirements, consistent with the Reform Act and the Third Basel Accord adopted by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, or Basel III capital standards.  In addition, the Final Capital Rules added a requirement to maintain a minimum conservation buffer, or the Conservation Buffer, composed of Common equity tier 1 capital, of 2.5% of risk-weighted assets, to be phased in over three years and applied to the Common equity tier 1 risk-based capital ratio, the Tier 1 risk-based capital ratio and the Total risk-based capital ratio. Accordingly, banking organizations, on a fully phased in basis no later than January 1, 2019, must maintain a minimum Common equity tier 1 risk-based capital ratio of 7.0%, a minimum Tier 1 risk-based capital ratio of 8.5% and a minimum Total risk-based capital ratio of 10.5%.

The required minimum Conservation Buffer began to be phased in incrementally, starting at 0.625% on January 1, 2016 and will increase to 1.25% on January 1, 2017, 1.875% on January 1, 2018 and 2.5% on January 1, 2019. The Final Capital Rules impose restrictions on capital distributions and certain discretionary cash bonus payments if the minimum Conservation Buffer is not met.

At June 30, 2016, the capital levels of both Astoria Financial Corporation and Astoria Bank exceeded all regulatory capital requirements and their regulatory capital ratios were above the minimum levels required to be considered well capitalized for regulatory purposes. The capital levels of both Astoria Financial Corporation and Astoria Bank at June 30, 2016 also exceeded the minimum capital requirements shown in the table below including the currently applicable Conservation Buffer of 0.625%. The following table sets forth information regarding the regulatory capital requirements applicable to Astoria Financial Corporation and Astoria Bank.

	At June 30, 2016
	Actual				Minimum Capital Requirements					Minimum Capital Requirements with Conservation Buffer					To be Well Capitalized Under Prompt Corrective Action Provisions
(Dollars in Thousands)	Amount		Ratio			Amount		Ratio			Amount		Ratio			Amount		Ratio
Astoria Financial Corporation:
Tier 1 leverage	$	1,550,012	10.46	%		$	592,626	4.00	%		N/A		N/A			$	740,782	5.00	%
Common equity tier 1 risk-based	1,425,940		16.93			378,939		4.50			$	431,570	5.125	%		547,357		6.50
Tier 1 risk-based	1,550,012		18.41			505,252		6.00			557,883		6.625			673,670		8.00
Total risk-based	1,640,591		19.48			673,670		8.00			726,300		8.625			842,087		10.00
Astoria Bank:
Tier 1 leverage	$	1,698,440	11.54	%		$	588,743	4.00	%		N/A		N/A			$	735,929	5.00	%
Common equity tier 1 risk-based	1,698,440		20.22			378,034		4.50			$	430,539	5.125	%		546,049		6.50
Tier 1 risk-based	1,698,440		20.22			504,046		6.00			556,550		6.625			672,061		8.00
Total risk-based	1,789,019		21.30			672,061		8.00			724,565		8.625			840,076		10.00