Laws: Cases and Codes : U.S. Code : Title 12 : Section 1841


   
U.S. Code as of: 01/19/04
Section 1841. Definitions

      (a)(1) Except as provided in paragraph (5) of this subsection,
    "bank holding company" means any company which has control over any
    bank or over any company that is or becomes a bank holding company
    by virtue of this chapter.
      (2) Any company has control over a bank or over any company if - 
        (A) the company directly or indirectly or acting through one or
      more other persons owns, controls, or has power to vote 25 per
      centum or more of any class of voting securities of the bank or
      company;
        (B) the company controls in any manner the election of a
      majority of the directors or trustees of the bank or company; or
        (C) the Board determines, after notice and opportunity for
      hearing, that the company directly or indirectly exercises a
      controlling influence over the management or policies of the bank
      or company.

      (3) For the purposes of any proceeding under paragraph (2)(C) of
    this subsection, there is a presumption that any company which
    directly or indirectly owns, controls, or has power to vote less
    than 5 per centum of any class of voting securities of a given bank
    or company does not have control over that bank or company.
      (4) In any administrative or judicial proceeding under this
    chapter, other than a proceeding under paragraph (2)(C) of this
    subsection, a company may not be held to have had control over any
    given bank or company at any given time unless that company, at the
    time in question, directly or indirectly owned, controlled, or had
    power to vote 5 per centum or more of any class of voting
    securities of the bank or company, or had already been found to
    have control in a proceeding under paragraph (2)(C).
      (5) Notwithstanding any other provision of this subsection - 
        (A) No bank and no company owning or controlling voting shares
      of a bank is a bank holding company by virtue of its ownership or
      control of shares in a fiduciary capacity, except as provided in
      paragraphs (2) and (3) of subsection (g) of this section. For the
      purpose of the preceding sentence, bank shares shall not be
      deemed to have been acquired in a fiduciary capacity if the
      acquiring bank or company has sole discretionary authority to
      exercise voting rights with respect thereto; except that this
      limitation is applicable in the case of a bank or company
      acquiring such shares prior to December 31, 1970, only if the
      bank or company has the right consistent with its obligations
      under the instrument, agreement, or other arrangement
      establishing the fiduciary relationship to divest itself of such
      voting rights and fails to exercise that right to divest within a
      reasonable period not to exceed one year after December 31, 1970.
        (B) No company is a bank holding company by virtue of its
      ownership or control of shares acquired by it in connection with
      its underwriting of securities if such shares are held only for
      such period of time as will permit the sale thereof on a
      reasonable basis.
        (C) No company formed for the sole purpose of participating in
      a proxy solicitation is a bank holding company by virtue of its
      control of voting rights of shares acquired in the course of such
      solicitation.
        (D) No company is a bank holding company by virtue of its
      ownership or control of shares acquired in securing or collecting
      a debt previously contracted in good faith, until two years after
      the date of acquisition. The Board is authorized upon application
      by a company to extend, from time to time for not more than one
      year at a time, the two-year period referred to herein for
      disposing of any shares acquired by a company in the regular
      course of securing or collecting a debt previously contracted in
      good faith, if, in the Board's judgment, such an extension would
      not be detrimental to the public interest, but no such extension
      shall in the aggregate exceed three years.
        (E) No company is a bank holding company by virtue of its
      ownership or control of any State-chartered bank or trust company
      which - 
          (i) is wholly owned by 1 or more thrift institutions or
        savings banks; and
          (ii) is restricted to accepting - 
            (I) deposits from thrift institutions or savings banks;
            (II) deposits arising out of the corporate business of the
          thrift institutions or savings banks that own the bank or
          trust company; or
            (III) deposits of public moneys.

        (F) No trust company or mutual savings bank which is an insured
      bank under the Federal Deposit Insurance Act [12 U.S.C. 1811 et
      seq.] is a bank holding company by virtue of its direct or
      indirect ownership or control of one bank located in the same
      State, if (i) such ownership or control existed on December 31,
      1970, authorized by applicable State law, and (ii) the trust
      company or mutual savings bank does not after that date acquire
      an interest in any company that, together with any other interest
      it holds in that company, will exceed 5 per centum of any class
      of the voting shares of that company, except that this limitation
      shall not be applicable to investments of the trust company or
      mutual savings bank, direct and indirect, which are otherwise in
      accordance with the limitations applicable to national banks
      under section 24 of this title.

      (6) For the purposes of this chapter, any successor to a bank
    holding company shall be deemed to be a bank holding company from
    the date on which the predecessor company became a bank holding
    company.
      (b) "Company" means any corporation, partnership, business trust,
    association, or similar organization, or any other trust unless by
    its terms it must terminate within twenty-five years or not later
    than twenty-one years and ten months after the death of individuals
    living on the effective date of the trust but shall not include any
    corporation the majority of the shares of which are owned by the
    United States or by any State, and shall not include a qualified
    family partnership. "Company covered in 1970" means a company which
    becomes a bank holding company as a result of the enactment of the
    Bank Holding Company Act Amendments of 1970 and which would have
    been a bank holding company on June 30, 1968, if those amendments
    had been enacted on that date.
      (c) Bank Defined. - For purposes of this chapter - 
        (1) In general. - Except as provided in paragraph (2), the term
      "bank" means any of the following:
          (A) An insured bank as defined in section 3(h) of the Federal
        Deposit Insurance Act [12 U.S.C. 1813(h)].
          (B) An institution organized under the laws of the United
        States, any State of the United States, the District of
        Columbia, any territory of the United States, Puerto Rico,
        Guam, American Samoa, or the Virgin Islands which both - 
            (i) accepts demand deposits or deposits that the depositor
          may withdraw by check or similar means for payment to third
          parties or others; and
            (ii) is engaged in the business of making commercial loans.

        (2) Exceptions. - The term "bank" does not include any of the
      following:
          (A) A foreign bank which would be a bank within the meaning
        of paragraph (1) solely because such bank has an insured or
        uninsured branch in the United States.
          (B) An insured institution (as defined in subsection (j) of
        this section).
          (C) An organization that does not do business in the United
        States except as an incident to its activities outside the
        United States.
          (D) An institution that functions solely in a trust or
        fiduciary capacity, if - 
            (i) all or substantially all of the deposits of such
          institution are in trust funds and are received in a bona
          fide fiduciary capacity;
            (ii) no deposits of such institution which are insured by
          the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation are offered or
          marketed by or through an affiliate of such institution;
            (iii) such institution does not accept demand deposits or
          deposits that the depositor may withdraw by check or similar
          means for payment to third parties or others or make
          commercial loans; and
            (iv) such institution does not - 
              (I) obtain payment or payment related services from any
            Federal Reserve bank, including any service referred to in
            section 11A of the Federal Reserve Act [12 U.S.C. 248a]; or
              (II) exercise discount or borrowing privileges pursuant
            to section 19(b)(7) of the Federal Reserve Act [12 U.S.C.
            461(b)(7)].

          (E) A credit union (as described in section 19(b)(1)(A)(iv)
        of the Federal Reserve Act [12 U.S.C. 461(b)(1)(A)(iv)]).
          (F) An institution, including an institution that accepts
        collateral for extensions of credit by holding deposits under
        $100,000, and by other means which - 
            (i) engages only in credit card operations;
            (ii) does not accept demand deposits or deposits that the
          depositor may withdraw by check or similar means for payment
          to third parties or others;
            (iii) does not accept any savings or time deposit of less
          than $100,000;
            (iv) maintains only one office that accepts deposits; and
            (v) does not engage in the business of making commercial
          loans.

          (G) An organization operating under section 25 or section
        25(a) (!1) of the Federal Reserve Act.

          (H) An industrial loan company, industrial bank, or other
        similar institution which is - 
            (i) an institution organized under the laws of a State
          which, on March 5, 1987, had in effect or had under
          consideration in such State's legislature a statute which
          required or would require such institution to obtain
          insurance under the Federal Deposit Insurance Act [12 U.S.C.
          1811 et seq.] - 
              (I) which does not accept demand deposits that the
            depositor may withdraw by check or similar means for
            payment to third parties;
              (II) which has total assets of less than $100,000,000; or
              (III) the control of which is not acquired by any company
            after August 10, 1987; or

            (ii) an institution which does not, directly, indirectly,
          or through an affiliate, engage in any activity in which it
          was not lawfully engaged as of March 5, 1987,

        except that this subparagraph shall cease to apply to any
        institution which permits any overdraft (including any intraday
        overdraft), or which incurs any such overdraft in such
        institution's account at a Federal Reserve bank, on behalf of
        an affiliate if such overdraft is not the result of an
        inadvertent computer or accounting error that is beyond the
        control of both the institution and the affiliate, or that is
        otherwise permissible for a bank controlled by a company
        described in section 1843(f)(1) of this title.
          (I) The Investors Fiduciary Trust Company, located in Kansas
        City, Missouri, so long as such institution - 
            (i) engages only in trust, fiduciary, and agency activities
          in which it was lawfully engaged on March 5, 1987;
            (ii) engages in such activities only at the same number of
          locations at which such activities were conducted on such
          date;
            (iii) does not accept demand deposits other than demand
          deposits which are maintained by such institution in - 
              (I) a trust or fiduciary capacity;
              (II) the institution's capacity as a custodian or as a
            paying, transfer, shareholder servicing, securities
            clearing, escrow, or dividend disbursing agent; or
              (III) any capacity which is incidental to the trust or
            fiduciary activities of the institution;

            (iv) does not engage in the business of making commercial
          loans;
            (v) does not exercise discount or borrowing privileges
          pursuant to section 19(b)(7) of the Federal Reserve Act [12
          U.S.C. 461(b)(7)]; and
            (vi) is not directly or indirectly controlled by any
          company other than a company which directly or indirectly
          controlled such institution on March 5, 1987.

          (J) A savings bank (as defined in section 3(g) of the Federal
        Deposit Insurance Act [12 U.S.C. 1813(g)]) which - 
            (i) is an insured bank (as defined in section 3(h) of such
          Act [12 U.S.C. 1813(h)]);
            (ii) is a subsidiary of the Great Western Financial
          Corporation as a result of an approval in writing by the
          State bank supervisor of the State of New York before June
          30, 1987;
            (iii) meets or exceeds the investment requirements which an
          insured institution must meet in order to be a qualified
          thrift lender under section 1730a(o) (!1) of this title; and
            (iv) does not, directly, or through insurance products such
          savings bank receives from or provides to the Great Western
          Financial Corporation, engage in the sale or underwriting of
          insurance,

        except that this subparagraph shall cease to apply with respect
        to such savings bank or any successor institution if any
        deposits of any other subsidiary or affiliate of the Great
        Western Financial Corporation which are subject to an
        assessment of an insurance premium under subsection (b) or (c)
        of section 1727 (!1) of this title are, directly or indirectly
        by any device whatsoever, transferred to or acquired by such
        savings bank or any successor institution which would have the
        effect of materially reducing such premium assessments. The
        exemption provided by this subparagraph shall cease to apply if
        Great Western Financial Corporation uses such savings bank or
        any successor institution as a vehicle to move such Corporation
        from Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation insurance
        to Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation insurance.

        (3) District bank. - The term "District bank" means any bank
      operating under the Code of Law for the District of Columbia.

      (d) "Subsidiary", with respect to a specified bank holding
    company, means (1) any company 25 per centum or more of whose
    voting shares (excluding shares owned by the United States or by
    any company wholly owned by the United States) is directly or
    indirectly owned or controlled by such bank holding company, or is
    held by it with power to vote; (2) any company the election of a
    majority of whose directors is controlled in any manner by such
    bank holding company; or (3) any company with respect to the
    management of policies of which such bank holding company has the
    power, directly or indirectly, to exercise a controlling influence,
    as determined by the Board, after notice and opportunity for
    hearing.
      (e) The term "successor" shall include any company which acquires
    directly or indirectly from a bank holding company shares of any
    bank, when and if the relationship between such company and the
    bank holding company is such that the transaction effects no
    substantial change in the control of the bank or beneficial
    ownership of such shares of such bank. The Board may, by
    regulation, further define the term "successor" to the extent
    necessary to prevent evasion of the purposes of this chapter.
      (f) "Board" means the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve
    System.
      (g) For the purposes of this chapter - 
        (1) shares owned or controlled by any subsidiary of a bank
      holding company shall be deemed to be indirectly owned or
      controlled by such bank holding company; and
        (2) shares held or controlled directly or indirectly by
      trustees for the benefit of (A) a company, (B) the shareholders
      or members of a company, or (C) the employees (whether
      exclusively or not) of a company, shall be deemed to be
      controlled by such company.

      (h)(1) Except as provided by paragraph (2), the application of
    this chapter and of section 371c of this title shall not be
    affected by the fact that a transaction takes place wholly or
    partly outside the United States or that a company is organized or
    operates outside the United States.
      (2) Except as provided in paragraph (3), the prohibitions of
    section 1843 of this title shall not apply to shares of any company
    organized under the laws of a foreign country (or to shares held by
    such company in any company engaged in the same general line of
    business as the investor company or in a business related to the
    business of the investor company) that is principally engaged in
    business outside the United States if such shares are held or
    acquired by a bank holding company organized under the laws of a
    foreign country that is principally engaged in the banking business
    outside the United States. For the purpose of this subsection, the
    term "section 2(h)(2) company" means any company whose shares are
    held pursuant to this paragraph.
      (3) Nothing in paragraph (2) authorizes a section 2(h)(2) company
    to engage in (or acquire or hold more than 5 percent of the
    outstanding shares of any class of voting securities of a company
    engaged in) any banking, securities, insurance, or other financial
    activities, as defined by the Board, in the United States. This
    paragraph does not prohibit a section 2(h)(2) company from holding
    shares that were lawfully acquired before August 10, 1987.
      (4) No domestic office or subsidiary of a bank holding company or
    subsidiary thereof holding shares of a section 2(h)(2) company may
    extend credit to a domestic office or subsidiary of such section
    2(h)(2) company on terms more favorable than those afforded similar
    borrowers in the United States.
      (5) No domestic banking office or bank subsidiary of a bank
    holding company that controls a section 2(h)(2) company may offer
    or market products or services of such section 2(h)(2) company, or
    permit its products or services to be offered or marketed by or
    through such section 2(h)(2) company, unless such products or
    services were being so offered or marketed as of March 5, 1987, and
    then only in the same manner in which they were being offered or
    marketed as of that date.
      (i) Thrift Institution. - For purposes of this chapter, the term
    "thrift institution" means - 
        (1) any domestic building and loan or savings and loan
      association;
        (2) any cooperative bank without capital stock organized and
      operated for mutual purposes and without profit;
        (3) any Federal savings bank; and
        (4) any State-chartered savings bank the holding company of
      which is registered pursuant to section 1730a (!2) of this title.


      (j) Definition of Savings Associations and Related Term. - The
    term "savings association" or "insured institution" means - 
        (1) any Federal savings association or Federal savings bank;
        (2) any building and loan association, savings and loan
      association, homestead association, or cooperative bank if such
      association or cooperative bank is a member of the Savings
      Association Insurance Fund; and
        (3) any savings bank or cooperative bank which is deemed by the
      Director of the Office of Thrift Supervision to be a savings
      association under section 1467a(l) of this title.

      (k) Affiliate. - For purposes of this chapter, the term
    "affiliate" means any company that controls, is controlled by, or
    is under common control with another company.
      (l) Savings Bank Holding Company. - For purposes of this chapter,
    the term "savings bank holding company" means any company which
    controls one or more qualified savings banks if the aggregate total
    assets of such savings banks constitute, upon formation of the
    holding company and at all times thereafter, at least 70 percent of
    the total assets of such company.
      (m) Qualified Savings Bank. - For purposes of this chapter, the
    term "qualified savings bank" - 
        (1) means any savings bank (as defined in section 3(g) of the
      Federal Deposit Insurance Act [12 U.S.C. 1813(g)]) which was
      organized on or before March 5, 1987; and
        (2) includes any cooperative bank that is an insured bank (as
      defined in section 3(h) of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act [12
      U.S.C. 1813(h)]) and any interim savings bank that is established
      to facilitate a corporate reorganization, or the formation of a
      holding company, involving a savings bank described in paragraph
      (1).

      (n) Incorporated Definitions. - For purposes of this chapter, the
    terms "depository institution", "insured depository institution",
    "appropriate Federal banking agency", "default", "in danger of
    default", and "State bank supervisor" have the same meanings as in
    section 3 of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act [12 U.S.C. 1813].
      (o) Other Definitions. - For purposes of this chapter, the
    following definitions shall apply:
        (1) Capital terms. - 
          (A) Insured depository institutions. - With respect to
        insured depository institutions, the terms "well capitalized",
        "adequately capitalized", and "undercapitalized" have the same
        meanings as in section 38 of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act
        [12 U.S.C. 1831o].
          (B) Bank holding company. - 
            (i) Adequately capitalized. - With respect to a bank
          holding company, the term "adequately capitalized" means a
          level of capitalization which meets or exceeds all applicable
          Federal regulatory capital standards.
            (ii) Well capitalized. - A bank holding company is "well
          capitalized" if it meets the required capital levels for well
          capitalized bank holding companies established by the Board.

          (C) Other capital terms. - The terms "Tier 1" and
        "risk-weighted assets" have the meanings given those terms in
        the capital guidelines or regulations established by the Board
        for bank holding companies.

        (2) Antitrust laws. - Except as provided in section 1849 of
      this title, the term "antitrust laws" - 
          (A) has the same meaning as in subsection (a) of section 12
        of title 15; and
          (B) includes section 45 of title 15 to the extent that such
        section 45 relates to unfair methods of competition.

        (3) Branch. - The term "branch" means a domestic branch (as
      defined in section 3 of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act [12
      U.S.C. 1813]).
        (4) Home state. - The term "home State" means - 
          (A) with respect to a national bank, the State in which the
        main office of the bank is located;
          (B) with respect to a State bank, the State by which the bank
        is chartered; and
          (C) 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 - 
            (i) July 1, 1966; or
            (ii) the date on which the company becomes a bank holding
          company under this chapter.

        (5) Host state. - The term "host State" means - 
          (A) with respect to a bank, a State, other than the home
        State of the bank, in which the bank maintains, or seeks to
        establish and maintain, a branch; and
          (B) with respect to a bank holding company, a State, other
        than the home State of the company, in which the company
        controls, or seeks to control, a bank subsidiary.

        (6) Out-of-state bank. - The term "out-of-State bank" means,
      with respect to any State, a bank whose home State is another
      State.
        (7) Out-of-state bank holding company. - The term "out-of-State
      bank holding company" means, with respect to any State, a bank
      holding company whose home State is another State.
        (8) Lead insured depository institutions. - 
          (A) In general. - The term "lead insured depository
        institution" means the largest insured depository institution
        controlled by the subject bank holding company at any time,
        based on a comparison of the average total risk-weighted assets
        controlled by each insured depository institution during the
        previous 12-month period.
          (B) Branch or agency. - For purposes of this paragraph and
        section 1843(j)(4) of this title, the term "insured depository
        institution" includes any branch or agency operated in the
        United States by a foreign bank.

        (9) Well managed. - The term "well managed" means - 
          (A) in the case of any company or depository institution
        which receives examinations, the achievement of - 
            (i) a CAMEL composite rating of 1 or 2 (or an equivalent
          rating under an equivalent rating system) in connection with
          the most recent examination or subsequent review of such
          company or institution; and
            (ii) at least a satisfactory rating for management, if such
          rating is given; or

          (B) in the case of a company or depository institution that
        has not received an examination rating, the existence and use
        of managerial resources which the Board determines are
        satisfactory.

        (10) Qualified family partnership. - The term "qualified family
      partnership" means a general or limited partnership that the
      Board determines - 
          (A) does not directly control any bank, except through a
        registered bank holding company;
          (B) does not control more than 1 registered bank holding
        company;
          (C) does not engage in any business activity, except
        indirectly through ownership of other business entities;
          (D) has no investments other than those permitted for a bank
        holding company pursuant to section 1843(c) of this title;
          (E) is not obligated on any debt, either directly or as a
        guarantor;
          (F) has partners, all of whom are either - 
            (i) individuals related to each other by blood, marriage
          (including former marriage), or adoption; or
            (ii) trusts for the primary benefit of individuals related
          as described in clause (i); and

          (G) has filed with the Board a statement that includes - 
            (i) the basis for the eligibility of the partnership under
          subparagraph (F);
            (ii) a list of the existing activities and investments of
          the partnership;
            (iii) a commitment to comply with this paragraph;
            (iv) a commitment to comply with section 7 of the Federal
          Deposit Insurance Act [12 U.S.C. 1817] with respect to any
          acquisition of control of an insured depository institution
          occurring after September 30, 1996; and
            (v) a commitment to be subject, to the same extent as if
          the qualified family partnership were a bank holding company
          - 
              (I) to examination by the Board to assure compliance with
            this paragraph; and
              (II) to section 8 of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act
            [12 U.S.C. 1818].

      (p) Financial Holding Company. - For purposes of this chapter,
    the term "financial holding company" means a bank holding company
    that meets the requirements of section 1843(l)(1) of this title.
      (q) Insurance Company. - For purposes of sections 1843 and 1844
    of this title, the term "insurance company" includes any person
    engaged in the business of insurance to the extent of such
    activities.



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