Legal Interpretations
Bank Holding Company/Change in Control - 2005 Letters
October 31, 2005 (PDF)
Letter to Mark Welshimer in response to an inquiry on behalf of Wachovia Corporation regarding the appropriate risk-based capital treatment of Wachovia’s equity investment in a consolidated financial guarantee reinsurance subsidiary, BluePoint Re Limited. The letter permits Wachovia to deconsolidate BluePoint for purposes of the Board’s bank holding company capital adequacy guidelines so long as Wachovia deducts its equity investment in BluePoint 50 percent from tier 1 capital and 50 percent from tier 2 capital.
August 24, 2005 (PDF)
Letter to a BHC stating that Board staff would not recommend that the Board (i) find that certain preferred shareholders would, individually or collectively, exercise a controlling influence over the management or policies of a majority-owned subsidiary of the BHC for purposes of the Bank Holding Company Act; or (ii) count the investment by the preferred shareholders in the majority-owned subsidiary of the BHC toward the investment limit of the investors for member bank investments in Edge and Agreement corporations under the Federal Reserve Act.
July 14, 2005 (PDF)
Letter to a BHC approving the BHC's proposed risk-based capital ("RBC") treatment for a synthetic securitization of margin loans proposed by the BHC that is intended to reduce the RBC requirements assessed against margin loans maintained on the BHC's balance sheet.
February 18, 2005
To Sherman Financial Group LLC clarifying that its acquisition of control of First National Bank of Marin, Las Vegas, Nevada, would be an acquisition of a bank that qualified for the "credit card bank exemption" from the definition of bank in section 2(c)(2)(F) of the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956.