[Federal Register: February 11, 2000 (Volume 65, Number 29)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Page 6924-6925]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr11fe00-22]
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FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM
12 CFR Part 225
[Regulation Y; Docket No. R-1060]
Revisions Regarding Tying Restrictions
AGENCY: Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.
ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking.
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SUMMARY: The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System is
seeking public comment on a proposed exception to the anti-tying
restrictions of section 106 of the Bank Holding Company Act Amendments
of 1970 and the Board's Regulation Y. The proposed amendment would
establish a ``safe harbor'' permitting a bank to offer a credit card
that can be used to make purchases from a retailer affiliated with the
bank.
DATES: Comments must be received by March 13, 2000.
ADDRESSES: Comments should refer to Docket No. R-1060, and may be
mailed to Ms. Jennifer J. Johnson, Secretary, Board of Governors of the
Federal Reserve System, 20th Street and Constitution Avenue, NW,
Washington, DC 20551. Comments also may be delivered to Room B-2222 of
the Eccles Building between 8:45 a.m. and 5:15 p.m. weekdays or
delivered to the guard station in the Eccles Building Courtyard on 20th
Street, NW (between Constitution Avenue and C Street, NW) at any time.
All comments received at the above address will be available for
inspection and copying by any member of the public in the Freedom of
Information Office, Room MP-500 of the Martin Building, between 9:00
a.m. and 5:00 p.m. weekdays, except as provided in Sec. 261.14 of the
Board's Rules Regarding the Availability of Information (12 CFR
261.14).
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Scott G. Alvarez, Associate General
Counsel (202/452-3583), or Andrew S. Baer, Attorney (202/452-2246),
Legal Division. Users of Telecommunication Device for Deaf (TTD) only,
contact Diane Jenkins at (202) 452-3544.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
Section 106(b) of the Bank Holding Company Act Amendments of 1970
(12 U.S.C. 1972) generally prohibits a bank from tying the availability
or price of a product or service to the purchase by a customer of
another product or service offered by the bank or any of its
affiliates. A bank engages in a tie for purposes of section 106 by
conditioning the availability of, or offering a discount on, one
product or service (the ``tying product'') on the condition that the
customer obtain some additional product or service (the ``tied
product'') from the bank or from any of its affiliates. Violations of
section 106 can be addressed by the Board through an enforcement
action, by the Department of Justice through a request for an
injunction, or by a customer or other party through an action for
damages. 12 U.S.C. 1972, 1973, and 1975.
Section 106 contains an explicit exception (the ``statutory
traditional bank product exception'') that permits a bank to tie a
product or service to a loan, discount, deposit, or trust service (``a
traditional bank product'') offered by that bank. The Board has
extended this exception by providing that a bank may condition the
availability of, or vary the consideration for, any product or service
on the condition that the customer obtain a traditional bank product
from an affiliate of the bank (the ``regulatory traditional bank
product exception'').\1\ The Board adopted the regulatory traditional
bank product exception in its present form because inter-affiliate
transactions do not appear to pose any greater risk of anti-competitive
behavior than intra-bank transactions, and because Congress had
extended the statutory traditional bank product exception to cover
inter-affiliate transactions for savings associations and their
affiliates.\2\
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\1\ See 12 CFR 225.7(b)(1).
\2\ See 62 FR 9289, 9314 (February 18, 1997), and 12 U.S.C.
1464(q)(1)(A).
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Section 106 authorizes the Board to grant exceptions to its
restrictions by regulation or order. On December 7, 1999, the General
Counsel of the Board issued a legal interpretation indicating the
Board's view that section 106 does not prohibit a credit card bank from
issuing a credit card that may be used to make purchases from a
retailer affiliated with the credit card bank (``private-label credit
card'').\3\ The Interpretation did not address the situation where a
bank or its retailer affiliate offer discounts on their respective
products in connection with a private-label credit card arrangement, as
that situation was not presented by the request for an interpretation.
The proposed exception also does not cover that situation.
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\3\ See Letter from J. Virgil Mattingly, Jr., to William S.
Eckland, Esq., dated December 7, 1999 (the ``Interpretation'').
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Proposed Rule
The Board is proposing to use its statutory authority to grant a
regulatory exemption to section 106 for private-label credit cards that
may be used at a retailer affiliated with the issuing bank. The Board
is proposing the exception in order to disseminate the Board's view, as
reflected in the Interpretation, that such arrangements are not as a
general matter anticompetitive, and to create a rule of more general
applicability not limited to the facts on which the Interpretation was
based.
[[Page 6925]]
Applicability of Section 106
Because section 106 prohibits a bank from offering or discounting a
product or service on the condition that the customer obtain some
additional product or service from the bank or from any of its
affiliates, the question arose as to whether a private-label credit
card arrangement violates that restriction when credit is extended only
when a customer makes a purchase from a retailer affiliated with the
issuing bank. Although the extension of credit through the private-
label credit card is not conditioned on any particular product being
purchased, or on purchases being made from any particular retailer, the
lack of a network with other retailers limits the ability of the
customer to access that credit other than by purchasing a product or
service from the affiliated retailer. In the private-label credit card
arrangement described in the Interpretation, there is no contractual
limitation on where the card can be used to make purchases. The reason
why the private-label credit card can only be used at the affiliated
retailer is that the retailer is the only merchant able to communicate
with the issuing bank regarding whether credit should be extended on
the card.
Exception
The Interpretation reflects the Board's belief that private-label
credit cards issued by a bank affiliated with the relevant retailer do
not generally involve the type of anticompetitive activity that section
106 was intended to address. Section 106 was intended to prevent banks
from using their market power in banking products to gain an unfair
competitive advantage in markets for non-banking products and services.
The type of private-label credit card arrangements described in the
Interpretation do not raise such concerns, however, because they do not
involve a banking organization's attempt to expand into retailing, but
rather a retailer's attempt to provide an additional convenience for
its customers. Additionally, because the same products and services can
be purchased from the retailer for the same price using payment methods
other than the private-label credit card, customers wishing to purchase
those products and services are not coerced into using the private-
label credit card. The Interpretation also noted that such transactions
are driven by the customer's desire to purchase the product or service,
not by the availability or nonavailability of credit from the
affiliated bank.
For these reasons, the Board is proposing to establish, through a
regulatory exception, a safe harbor for private-label credit card
arrangements where such cards may only be used to make purchases from a
retailer affiliate of the issuing bank. The proposed safe harbor is
consistent with the concerns of section 106 about anticompetitive
behavior. The proposal requires that the products or services be
available for purchase at the same price by means other than the
private-label credit card, such as cash or credit cards issued by a
third party. Furthermore, the issuing bank may not discount the credit
it offers through the private-label credit card to customers who use
the card to make purchases at the bank's retailer affiliate. Because a
customer could purchase any product or service from the retailer for
the same price, regardless of the payment method, the only incentive
for the customer to use the private-label credit card is the
convenience it offers as an alternative source of credit for use in
making purchases from the retailer affiliate. For this reason, the
Board does not believe that the proposed rule would allow coercive or
anticompetitive practices, or otherwise contravene the purposes of
section 106.
Finally, the Board believes that the proposed rule would benefit
the public by providing consumers with alternative sources of consumer
credit.
Paperwork Reduction Act
No collections of information pursuant to section 3504(h) of the
Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.) are contained in the
proposed rule.
Regulatory Flexibility Act
This proposal is not expected to have a significant economic impact
on a substantial number of small business entities within the meaning
of the Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 601 et seq.). It is
intended to allow affected businesses to expand the services they may
offer to customers.
List of Subjects in 12 CFR Part 225
Administrative practice and procedure, Banks, Banking, Federal
Reserve System, Holding companies, Reporting and recordkeeping
requirements, Securities.
For the reasons set forth in the preamble, the Board amends 12 CFR
Part 225 as follows:
PART 225--BANK HOLDING COMPANIES AND CHANGE IN BANK CONTROL
(REGULATION Y)
1. The authority citation for part 225 continues to read as
follows:
Authority: 12 U.S.C. 1817(j)(13), 1818, 1828(o), 1831i, 1831p-1,
1843(c)(8), 1844(b), 1972(1), 3106, 3108, 3310, 3331-3351, 3907, and
3909.
2. In Sec. 225.7, a new paragraph (b)(4) is added to read as
follows:
Sec. 225.7 Exceptions to tying restrictions.
(b) * * *
(4) Safe harbor for retailer-affiliated credit card banks. Issue
credit cards that may be used to purchase products or services from a
retailer affiliated with the bank, if:
(i) The products or services may be purchased from the retailer
affiliate using other payment methods, including credit cards issued by
other banks;
(ii) The bank does not discount the credit it offers through the
credit card to customers of its retailer affiliate; and
(iii) The retailer affiliate of the bank does not discount its
products or services when purchased using credit cards issued by the
bank.
* * * * *
By order of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve
System, February 7, 2000.
Jennifer J. Johnson,
Secretary of the Board.
[FR Doc. 00-3162 Filed 2-10-00; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6210-01-P