This story was originally published on Banking Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily Banking Dive newsletter.

The nation’s Category I and II banks would be required to hold 2.4% less in common equity tier 1 capital, on average, than they do now, under a trio of proposals issued Thursday by the Federal Reserve, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.

When combined with previously proposed changes to stress testing and other matters, that decrease would stretch to 4.8%.

Category III and IV banks would see a 5.2% dip in CET1 requirements. And smaller banks would be required to hold 7.8% less capital, under the proposals, first previewed last week by Michelle Bowman, the Fed’s vice chair for supervision. 

In combination, the proposals “meaningfully improve the bank capital framework by addressing duplicative overlaps, matching requirements to actual risk, and comprehensively addressing long-standing gaps in our framework,” Bowman said in a statement Thursday.

“The result will be more efficient regulation and banks that are better positioned to support economic growth, while preserving safety and soundness and financial stability,” she said.

The proposals – one to implement remaining Basel III requirements, one to adjust the surcharge given to global systemically important banks, and one to tweak the way capital requirements are calculated in the U.S. – come years after Bowman’s predecessor, Michael Barr, helmed proposals that would have increased capital requirements by 19%, and later 9%, for the biggest banks.

Barr, for his part, said he doesn’t support Thursday’s measures, saying, “these significant reductions in capital requirements are unnecessary and unwise.”

“The capital surcharge for G-SIBs could be refined and the Basel III reforms could be adopted in the United States without materially weakening the capital framework,” he said. “Today's proposals, if adopted, would harm the resilience of banks and the U.S. financial system.”

Barr scrutinized one Fed official’s assessment that the reduction across banking organizations would amount to between $20 billion and $21 billion. Barr estimated that, taking into account recent changes to the enhanced supplemental leverage ratio, G-SIBs would see a $60 billion, or 6% reduction.

Barr isn’t the only regulator with reservations.

“I continue to have some skepticism that regulators can accurately measure operational risk through a complex, standardized formula, and am interested in comments on the merits of exploring a simpler approach,” FDIC Chair Travis Hill said in a statement Thursday.

The measures were introduced at an FDIC board meeting but are set to see a vote later in the day at the Fed.

The proposals are subject to a 90-day public consultation before they can be finalized.

This is a developing story.