Sec. 208.71 What are the requirements to invest in or control a financial subsidiary?

(a) In general. A state member bank may control, or hold an interest in, a financial subsidiary only if:

(1) The state member bank and each depository institution affiliate of the state member bank are well capitalized and well managed;

(2) The aggregate consolidated total assets of all financial subsidiaries of the state member bank do not exceed the lesser of:

(i) 45 percent of the consolidated total assets of the parent bank; or

(ii) $50,000,000,000, which dollar amount shall be adjusted according to an indexing mechanism jointly established by the Board and the Secretary of the Treasury;

(3) The state member bank, if it is one of the largest 100 insured banks (based on consolidated total assets of the bank as of the end of each calendar year), meets the debt rating or alternative requirement of paragraph (b) of this section, if applicable; and

(4) The Board or the appropriate Reserve Bank has approved the bank to acquire the interest in or control the financial subsidiary under § 208.76.

(b) Debt rating or alternative requirement for 100 largest insured banks—

(1) General. A state member bank meets the debt rating or alternative requirement of this paragraph (b) if:

(i) The bank has at least one issue of outstanding eligible debt that is currently rated in one of the three highest investment grade rating categories by a nationally recognized statistical rating organization; or

(ii) If the bank is one of the second 50 largest insured banks (based on consolidated total assets of the bank as of the end of each calendar year), the bank satisfies any alternative criteria jointly established by the Board and the Secretary of the Treasury.

(2) Financial subsidiaries engaged only in financial agency activities.

This paragraph (b) does not apply to a state member bank if the financial subsidiaries of the bank engage in financial activities described in § 208.72(a)(1) and (2) only in an agency capacity.

(c) Alternative requirement. A state member bank satisfies the alternative criteria referenced in paragraph (b)(1)(ii) of this section if the bank has a current long-term issuer credit rating from at least one nationally recognized statistical rating organization that is within the three highest investment grade rating categories used by the organization.