Joint final rule--amendment to regulatory prohibition against branches being used as deposit production offices. (Legal Developments).

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Treasury (OCC); Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Board); and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) (collectively, the "Agencies") are amending their uniform regulations implementing section 109 of the Riegle-Neal Interstate Banking and Branching Efficiency Act of 1994 (Interstate Act) to effectuate the amendment contained in section 106 of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999. Section 109 prohibits any bank from establishing or acquiring a branch or branches outside of its home State under the Interstate Act primarily for the purpose of deposit production, and provides guidelines for determining whether such bank is reasonably helping to meet the credit needs of the communities served by these branches. Section 106 of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999 expanded the coverage of section 109 of the Interstate Act to include any branch of a bank controlled by an out-of-State bank holding company. This final rule amends the regulatory prohibition against branches being used as deposit production offices to include any bank or branch of a bank controlled by an out-of-State bank holding company, including a bank consisting only of a main office.

The text of the other Agencies' final rules can be found in 12 C.F.R. Parts 25 and 369, and was published in the Federal Register on June 6, 2002 (67 Federal Register 38844 (2002)).

Effective October 1, 2002, 12 C.F.R.

Part 208 is amended as follows:

Part 208--Membership of State Banking Institutions in the Federal Reserve System (Regulation H)

1. The authority citation for Part 208 continues to read as follows:

Authority: 12 U.S.C. 24, 36, 92a, 93a, 248(a), 248(c), 321-338a, 371d, 461,481-486, 601, 611, 1814, 1816, 1818, 1820(d)(9), 1823(j), 1828(o), 1831, 18310, 1831p-1, 1831r-1, 1831w, 1835a, 1882, 2901-2907, 3105, 3310, 3331-3351, and 39063909; 15 U.S.C. 78b, 781(b), 781(g), 781(i), 78o-4(c)(5), 78q, 78q-1, and 78w; 31 U.S.C. 5318, 42 U.S.C. 4012a, 4104a, 4104b, 4106 and 4128.

2. In section 208.7, redesignate existing paragraphs (b)(6) and (b)(7) as (b)(7) and (b)(8), respectively, revise paragraphs (b)(2), (b)(3), (b)(4) and (c)(1), and add new paragraph (b)(6) to read as follows:

Section 208.7--Prohibition against use of interstate branches primarily for deposit production.

(b) ***

(2) Covered interstate branch means:

(i) Any branch of a State member bank, and any uninsured branch of a foreign bank licensed by a State, that:

(A) Is established or acquired outside the bank's home State pursuant to the interstate branching authority granted by the Interstate Act or by any amendment made by the Interstate Act to any other provision of law; or

(B) Could not have been established or acquired outside of the bank's home State but for the establishment or acquisition of a branch described in paragraph (b)(2)(i) of this section; and

(ii) Any bank or branch of a bank controlled by an out-of-State bank holding company.

(3) Home State means:

(i) With respect to a State bank, the State that chartered the bank;

(ii) With respect to a national bank, the State in which the main office of the bank is located;

(iii) With respect to a bank holding company, the State in which the total deposits of all banking subsidiaries of such company are the largest on the later of:

(A) July 1, 1966; or

(B) The date on which the company becomes a bank holding company under the Bank Holding Company Act.

(iv) With respect to a foreign bank:

(A) For purposes of determining whether a U.S. branch of a foreign bank is a covered interstate branch, the home State of the foreign bank as determined in accordance with 12 U.S.C. 3103(c) and 12 C.F.R. 211.22; and

(B) For purposes of determining whether a branch of a U.S. bank controlled by a foreign bank is a covered interstate branch, the State in which the total deposits of all banking subsidiaries of such foreign bank are the largest on the later of:

(1) July 1, 1966; or

(2) The date on which the foreign bank becomes a bank holding company under the Bank Holding Company Act.

(4) Host State means a State in which a covered interstate branch is established or acquired.

(6) Out-of-State bank holding company means, with respect to any State, a bank holding company whose home State is another State.

(c) (1) Application of screen. Beginning no earlier than one year after a covered interstate branch is acquired or established, the Board will consider whether the bank's statewide loan-to-deposit ratio is less than 50 percent of the relevant host State loan-to-deposit ratio.