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United States · Bill · HR

H.R. 10 (105th)

Financial Services Act of 1998

openUnited States· United States Congress· EN

Introduced

7 January 1997

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Status

Amendment SP 3806 proposed by Senator Lott to Amendment SP 3805.

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7 April 2025

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Summary

TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Bank Securities Activities and Affiliations with Securities Firms and Other Financial Companies Subtitle A: Securities Activities Subtitle B: Investment Bank Holding Companies Subtitle C: Financial Activities Subtitle D: Interagency Banking and Financial Services Advisory Committee Subtitle E: Application and Registration Fees Title II: Functional Regulations Subtitle A: Brokers and Dealers Subtitle B: Bank Investment Company Activities Title III: Bank Insurance Activities Title IV: Thrift Charter Conversion Subtitle A: Status of Banks and Savings Associations Subtitle B: Transfer of Functions, Personnel, and Property Subtitle C: Merger of Deposit Insurance Funds Title V: Technical Corrections Financial Services Competitiveness Act of 1997 - Title I: Bank Securities Activities and Affiliations with Securities Firms and Other Financial Companies - Subtitle A: Securities Activities - Amends the Banking Act of 1933 (Glass-Steagall Act) to repeal the proscription against affiliation of any member bank of the Federal Reserve System with an entity engaged principally in securities activities (securities affiliate). (Sec. 102) Amends the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956 (BHCA) to authorize financial services holding companies (FSHCs) to own shares of a securities affiliate. (Sec. 103) Delineates activities permissible for securities affiliates. Instructs the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (the Board) to consider the need for securities firms affiliated with banks to be innovative and competitive when it makes determinations of "permissible activities." Cites circumstances under which the Board may permit an FSHC to: (1) acquire more than five percent of, or all or substantially all of, the voting shares or assets of a securities affiliate; (2) make additional investments that are considered capital for purposes of statutory capital requirements in a securities affiliate under its control; and (3) permit its securities affiliate to underwrite or deal in any security for a maximum aggregate period of two years. Prohibits any FSHC acquisition of any securities affiliate or any additional investment in such an affiliate unless the Board has received full payment of the application fee. Excludes a securities affiliate's assets and liabilities (except those related to nonsecurities activities) from the determination of whether an FSHC is adequately capitalized. States that such exclusion shall not apply, however, to an investment bank holding company predominantly engaged in securities activities on a consolidated basis. Prohibits an FSHC that acquires control of a securities affiliate from permitting any depository institution or its subsidiary (except for a special operating subsidiary and certain Edge Act and agreement corporations), from engaging in underwriting securities backed by or representing interests in obligations (or pools of obligations) originated or purchased by the institution or its affiliates. Requires the Board to deny any notice or application by an FSHC to engage in, or acquire shares of a company engaged in, underwriting or dealing in securities in the United States, unless such activity is permissible for a national bank. Treats certain participants in a bankers' bank holding company as subsidiaries. Cites circumstances under which an FSHC may acquire shares and ownership interests in connection with underwriting and investment banking activities without prior Board approval. Requires an FSHC to pay an annual registration fee with respect to each securities affiliate or other entity it controls which has acquired shares, assets, or ownership interests as part of a bona fide underwriting or investment banking activity. (Sec. 104) Delineates conditions under which: (1) a well capitalized insured depository institution may extend credit tacker or sell securities, or enhance the marketability of securities underwritten by a securities affiliate. Prohibits a depository institution with a securities affiliate from directly or indirectly extending credit to an issuer of securities underwritten by the securities affiliate for the purpose of paying the principal of those securities or interest or dividends on them (except bank eligible securities). Directs the Board to promulgate regulations under which directors and senior executive officers of a securities affiliate may serve simultaneously in the same capacity at an affiliated depository institution (management interlocks). Sets forth disclosure requirements for securities affiliates and insured depository institutions. Prescribes guidelines under which each appropriate Federal banking agency and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) shall establish information sharing and compliance programs and coordinate their activities to enforce this Act. Identifies conditions under which the uninsured wholesale operations of foreign banks are exempt from the restrictions relating to securities affiliates (foreign bank firewalls). Amends the Federal Reserve Act to extend the period during which a member bank is prohibited from acquiring a security if a principal underwriter in the selling syndicate is a bank affiliate. Amends the Federal Power Act to exempt from its prohibition against interlocking directorates certain persons currently serving or proposing to serve as directors or officers of a public utility and a banking firm permitted to underwrite or participate in the marketing of public utility securities, if that banking firm does not underwrite or participate in the marketing of securities of the same public utility. Amends the Right to Financial Privacy Act to permit the supervisory agencies of the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council and the SEC to exchange examination reports. Amends the BHCA of 1956 to authorize the Board to promulgate regulations for the protection of depository institutions and for the separation of banking and commerce. (Sec. 105) Amends the Bank Holding Company Act to set forth circumstances under which securities companies that become FSHCs may retain ownership of financial and nonfinancial companies. Restricts joint marketing of products or services between an insured depository institution and an affiliate owned by an FSHC. Permits an FSHC to acquire shares, assets or ownership interests held as an investment in the ordinary course of business by an insurance affiliate predominantly engaged in specified lines of insurance. Declares that this permission shall not be construed as authorizing an FSHC or its subsidiary to underwrite or deal in any security. (Sec. 106) Identifies circumstances under which qualified limited purpose banks are exempt from: (1) new activities' restrictions; (2) cross-marketing restrictions; and (3) divestiture requirements. Prescribes guidelines for the conversion of certain nonbank holding companies to FSHC status. (Sec. 107) Amends the Federal Deposit Insurance Act (FDIA) to set forth parameters within which certain insured depository institutions may be affiliates of a securities underwriter or dealer, a securities affiliate, or a special operating subsidiary. Requires the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) to: (1) study and report to the Congress on the risks posed to the deposit insurance funds by the affiliation of insured depository institutions with securities affiliates; and (2) factor into semiannual assessments any increased risk to the funds that it finds are caused by such affiliations. (Sec. 108) Amends the International Banking Act of 1978 to authorize the Board to set a termination date for any grandfathered authority conferred upon a foreign bank or company following Board approval of its application under this Act to control a securities affiliate. (Sec. 109) Amends the BHCA of 1956 to preempt any State law to the extent it restricts: (1) an insurer or its affiliate from becoming an FSHC, or acquiring control of an insured depository institution; (2) the amount of an insurer's assets that may be invested in the voting securities of an insured depository institution; or (3) the actions of an insurance regulatory authority regarding an insurer's plan to reorganize from mutual to stock form. (Sec. 110) Amends the Revised Statutes to permit a national bank to acquire or establish a special operating subsidiary which may, with the approval of the Comptroller of the Currency, engage in activities that are part of or incidental to the business of banking, or permissible for national banks, including securities transactions and investment advice. Conditions such approval upon specified firewalls, including separate capitalization requirements. (Sec. 111) Amends the FDIA to direct the appropriate Federal banking agencies to jointly prescribe standards applicable to certain insured depository institutions that conduct transactions in securities issued by an investment company or annuities. Requires such standards to be comparable to the standards applicable to brokers and dealers registered under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 unless the appropriate Federal banking agencies jointly determine that implementation of comparable standards is not necessary or appropriate for the maintenance of: (1) fair and orderly markets; (2) the protection of investors; or (3) is not in the public interest. Subtitle B: Investment Bank Holding Companies - Amends the BHCA of 1956 to: (1) establish a new category known as "investment bank holding company" (IBHC); and (2) delineate permissible affiliations for investment bank holding companies. Prohibits the use of Federal deposit insurance funds for a wholesale financial institution (certain uninsured State member banks), or an IBHC. (Sec. 116) Prescribes guidelines: (1) under which foreign banks may be treated as IBHCs; and (2) for reciprocal national treatment and coordination with the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). (Sec. 117) Amends the Federal Reserve Act to prescribe procedural guidelines for membership as a wholesale financial institution in the Federal Reserve System. Amends the FDIA to prescribe a procedure by which an insured State-chartered bank or a national bank may voluntarily terminate its status as an insured depository institution. Requires any such terminated bank to become a wholesale financial institution in order to accept any deposits. Subtitle C: Financial Activities - Amends the BHCA of 1956 to exempt from its proscription against interests in nonbanking organizations any activity that the Board determines to be financial in nature or incidental to financial activities. (Sec. 121) Repeals the mandate that the Board consider, when determining whether a particular activity is a proper incident to banking, if its performance by a bank holding company affiliate is such that the public interest benefit outweighs any possible adverse effects (such as undue concentration of resources, decreased or unfair competition, conflicts of interests, or unsound banking practices). Permits Board regulations to differentiate between activities commenced by affiliates of different classes of banks. (Sec. 123) Revises FSHC examination and reporting requirements. (Sec. 124) Sets forth a statutory scheme for reduced supervision of FSHCs controlling principally nondepository institutions. Requires the Board, in determining whether to establish and the extent of capital requirements for an FSHC, to give due consideration to the activities of the FSHC and its subsidiaries and any comparable capital requirements imposed on the FSHC by other State or Federal regulatory authority. (Sec. 125) Sets forth a procedure for the conversion of unitary savings and loan holding companies to FSHC status without prior Board approval. (Sec. 128) Renames the BHCA of 1956 as the Financial Services Holding Company Act of 1995. (Sec. 130) States that corporate credit cards are not commercial loans (thus permitting credit card banks to issue corporate credit cards, a practice currently proscribed). Subtitle D: Interagency Banking and Financial Services Advisory Committee - Establishes the Interagency Banking and Financial Services Advisory Committee to improve the supervision, efficiency, and competitiveness of the financial services industry and make related recommendations to Federal agencies and the Congress. Subtitle E: Application and Registration Fees - Amends the BHCA of 1956 to authorize the Board to impose administrative fees upon FSHCs. Title II: Functional Regulation - Subtitle A: Brokers and Dealers - Amends the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to define specified banks as "brokers" and "dealers" (current law excludes banks from such definition). (Sec. 203) Authorizes the SEC to exempt any person from the definition of "broker" or "dealer" if it finds such exemption is consistent with the purposes of this Act. Subtitle B: Bank Investment Company Activities - Amends the Investment Company Act of 1940 to permit: (1) custody of investment company assets by an affiliated bank; and (2) a unit investment trust to designate an affiliated bank as trustee (currently a prohibited practice). (Sec. 211) Permits the SEC to bring a civil action against a custodian for a registered investment company for breach of fiduciary duty involving personal misconduct. (Sec. 212) States that an affiliate of an investment company for a bank must comply with SEC rules when lending money to an investment company. (Sec. 213) Modifies the definition of "interested person" to identify transactions, services, and loans taking place during the preceding six months which would make a person an affiliated person of a broker or dealer. Prohibits a registered investment company from having a majority of its board of directors consisting of personnel or senior officers of the subsidiaries of any one bank, or of any single FSHC, its affiliates and subsidiaries. (Sec. 214) Modifies guidelines pertaining to unlawful misrepresentation of guarantees and the deceptive use of names. (Sec. 215) Modifies the definition of "broker" to state that it does not include any person solely by reason of the fact that such person is an underwriter for one or more investment companies. (Sec. 216) Modifies the definition of "dealer" to exclude an insurance or an investment company. (Sec. 217) Amends the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 to modify the definitions of investment adviser to remove the exclusion from such definition of an investment adviser for banks that advise investment companies. Revises the definitions of broker and dealer. (Sec. 220) Mandates interagency consultation between the appropriate Federal banking agency and the SEC regarding examination results and other information pertaining to the investment advisory activities of a registered FSHC and its separately identifiable departments or divisions. (Sec. 221) Amends the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to revise the exclusion from their purview of certain bank common trust funds to specify the exclusion of any interest or participation in any common trust fund or similar fund that is excluded from the definition of "investment company" under the Investment Company Act of 1940. Amends the Investment Company Act of 1940 to revise such exclusion guidelines for certain bank common trust funds. (Sec. 222) Amends the Investment Company Act of 1940 to prescribe circumstances under which an investment adviser holding shares of an investment company in a fiduciary capacity must transfer the power to vote such shares to the beneficial owners or to another fiduciary who is not an affiliate of such adviser. Title III: Bank Insurance Activities - Amends the Revised Statutes (National Bank Act) to declare that nothing in specified Federal banking regulatory law may be construed as limiting State authority to regulate the manner in which a national bank provides insurance or annuity contracts pursuant to Federal law within its borders. Prohibits the States from imposing discriminatory insurance regulatory and licensing requirements upon national banks. Identifies the parameters within which a national bank may operate as principal, agent or broker in the course of conducting insurance or annuities transactions. (Sec. 301) Amends certain Federal banking law governing interests in nonbanking organizations to shield an FSHC from any State law or regulation restricting a bank from having an affiliate, agent, or employee in that State licensed to provide insurance as principal, agent, or broker. Instructs the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System to promulgate regulations that provide equivalent treatment for all stock and mutual insurance companies that control or are affiliated with a bank, and that fully accommodate and are consistent with State law. (Sec. 302) Authorizes the Comptroller of the Currency to approve the application of a national bank with a main office or full-service bank in an empowerment zone to act as agent or broker from such office or branch for an insurance company if: (1) the bank provides sufficient evidence that competitively priced insurance in its empowerment zone is inadequate; and (2) the insurance is sold only in such empowerment zone. Authorizes the Comptroller to: (1) prescribe regulations governing sales of insurance by national banks; and (2) enforce State law with respect to a national bank. (Sec. 303) Sets forth parameters within which a mutual life insurer may transfer its domicile from one State to a transferee domicile (in another State) as a step in a reorganization in which the mutual life insurer becomes a stock life insurer, whether as a direct or indirect subsidiary of a mutual holding company or otherwise ("redomestication"). Preempts State laws restricting redomestication. Title IV: Thrift Charter Conversion - Subtitle A: Status of Banks and Savings Associations - Thrift Charter Conversion Act of 1997 - Prescribes procedural guidelines for the termination of Federal savings association charters and their conversion into national bank charters or State depository institution charters. Prohibits the Director of the Office of Thrift Supervision from granting any charter for a Federal savings association. Amends the Federal Deposit Insurance Act (FDIA) to treat State Savings Associations as banks for purposes of Federal banking law. Includes as State banks any cooperative bank or other unincorporated bank whose deposits were insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) on the day before enactment of the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act of 1989, but excludes from State bank treatment any such banks whose deposits were not FDIC-insured on such date. (Sec. 401) Requires the FDIC to review State supervision of depository institutions in order to ensure that State savings associations are regulated as rigorously as State banks. (Sec. 402) Amends the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956 (BHCA) to permit continuation of grandfathered bank holding company activities and affiliations. (Sec. 403) Sets forth transition provisions for: (1) activities of savings associations and mutual savings associations which have converted into or become treated as banks; and (2) registration of bank holding companies resulting from conversions of savings associations to banks, or treatment of savings associations as banks. (Sec. 405) Amends the National Bank Act to prescribe procedural guidelines under which the Comptroller of the Currency is authorized to charter national mutual or State mutual banks. Amends the BHCA to prescribe procedural guidelines under which a national mutual bank may reorganize to become a holding company. Cites permissible activities. Authorizes conversion of mutual savings associations to mutual national banks by operation of law. Transfers regulatory jurisdiction over a mutual holding company to the Board. Subjects a Federal mutual holding company in existence on the date of enactment of this Act to certain BHCA provisions. (Sec. 408) Repeals the Home Owners' Loan Act. Subtitle B: Transfer of Functions, Personnel, and Property - Instructs the Secretary of the Treasury to merge the Office of Thrift Supervision with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. (Sec. 423) Requires that any cost of funds index based upon certain characteristics of Federal home loan banks be calculated using data only from insured depository institutions which were bank members and whose data was previously included in such index. Subtitle C: Merger of Deposit Insurance Funds - Amends the Omnibus Consolidation Appropriations Act, 1997 to declare January 1, 1999, the effective date for the merger of the Bank Insurance Fund (BIF) and the Savings Association Insurance Fund (SAIF) if the FDIC determines that: (1) such merger is in the public interest; (2) the reserve ratios of both funds are equal to or greater than their designated reserve ratios; and (3) a significant number of savings associations have converted to State or national bank charters. Title V: Technical Corrections - Amends the Revised Statutes to authorize the Comptroller of the Currency to waive the citizenship requirement for a minority of the total number of directors in the case of an association which is a foreign bank subsidiary or affiliate. (Sec. 502) Amends the FDIA to provide that: (1) a branch of an out-of-State bank shall be subject to the laws of the host State to the same extent as the branch of an out-of- State national bank; and (2) the branch of an insured State bank may conduct any activity in the host State that is permissible within its home State if such activity is permissible either for a bank chartered by the host State, or for a branch of an out-of-State national bank in the host State.

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