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FEDERAL RESERVE BANK
OF N EW YORK
r Circular No. 5 8 4 7 1
L
August 2, 1966
J

RELATIONSHIPS W ITH DEALERS IN SECURITIES
UNDER SECTION 32 OF THE BANKING ACT OF 1933

Revision of Regulation R

To the Member Banks of the
Second Federal Reserve District:

Enclosed is a copy of Regulation R, Relationships With Dealers in Securi­
ties Under Section 32 of the Banking Act of 1933, of the Board of Governors
of the Federal Reserve System, as amended effective July 11, 1966.
The regulation prohibits an officer, director, or employee of a securities
dealer or underwriter from being at the same time an officer, director, or
employee of a member bank. Section 218.2 of the regulation exempts from this
prohibition any securities dealer or underwriter whose dealing and underwriting
is limited to the types of securities listed in that section. The regulation, as
amended, reflects the inclusion in that list of obligations of the Asian Devel­
opment Bank.
Additional copies of the regulation will be furnished upon request.




A

lfred

H

ayes,

President.

BOARD OF GOVERNORS
of the

FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM

RELATIONSHIPS WITH DEALERS IN
SECURITIES UNDER SECTION 32
OF THE BANKING ACT OF 1933




▼

REGULATION R
(12 CFR 218)
As Amended Effective July 11, 1966

INQUIRIES WITH RESPECT TO THIS REGULATION
Any inquiry relating to this regulation should be addressed to the
Federal Reserve bank of the Federal Reserve district in which the
inquiry arises.




REGULATION R
(12 CFR 218)

As Amended Effective July 11, 1966

RELATIONSHIPS WITH DEALERS IN
SECURITIES UNDER SECTION 32
OF THE BANKING ACT OF 1933 *
SECTION 218.1— PROHIBITIONS

Under section 32 of the Banking Act of 1933 (49 Stat. 709;
12 U.S.C. 78), except as stated in section 218.2, no officer, direc­
tor, or employee of any corporation or unincorporated associa­
tion, no partner or employee of any partnership, and no individ­
ual primarily engaged in the issue, flotation, underwriting,
public sale, or distribution, at wholesale or retail, or through
syndicate participation, of stocks, bonds, or other similar secur­
ities, can legally be at the same time an officer, director, or
employee of any member bank of the Federal Reserve System.1
SECTION 218.2—EXCEPTIONS

Pursuant to the authority vested in it by section 32, the Board
of Governors of the Federal Reserve System hereby grants per­
mission 2 for any officer, director, or employee of any member
* This text corresponds to the Code o f Federal Regulations, Title 12, Chapter II, Part 218;
cited as 12 CFR 218. The words “ this Part” , as used herein, mean Regulation R.
1 Therefore, by its terms, section 32 does not apply-—
(a) To a person who is not an officer, director, or employee o f a member bank o f the
Federal Reserve System;
(b) To a person (1) who is not an officer, director, or employee of a corporation or
unincorporated association primarily engaged in the issue, flotation, underwriting, public
sale or distribution, at wholesale or retail, or through syndicate participation, o f stocks,
bonds or other similar securities, (2) who is not a partner or employee of a partnership
primarily so engaged, and (3) who is not, in his individual capacity, primarily so engaged.
A broker who is engaged solely in executing orders for the purchase and sale of secu­
rities on behalf o f others in the open market is not engaged in the business referred to
in section 32.
2 Under section 32, as amended effective January 1. 1936 (49 Stat. 709; 12 U.S.C. 78),
the Board is authorized to except limited classes of relationships from the prohibitions of
the statute, under certain conditions; but the Board can make such exceptions only by
general regulations and is not authorized to issue individual permits.




2

REGULATION R

SECS. 218.2-218.3

bank of the Federal Reserve System, unless otherwise pro­
hibited,3 to be at the same time an officer, director, or employee
of any corporation or unincorporated association, a partner or
employee of any partnership, or an individual, engaged in the
issue, flotation, underwriting, public sale, or distribution, at
wholesale or retail, or through syndicate participation, o f any
stocks, bonds, or other similar securities, if so engaged only as
to the following securities: bonds, notes, certificates of indebted­
ness, and Treasury bills of the United States; obligations fully
guaranteed both as to principal and interest by the United
States; general obligations of Territories, dependencies, and
insular possessions of the United States; obligations of Federal
Intermediate Credit banks, Federal Land banks, Central Bank
for Cooperatives, Federal Home Loan banks, the Federal Na­
tional Mortgage Association, and the Tennessee Valley Author­
ity; certificates of interest of the Commodity Credit Corporation;
and, subject to specifications contained in paragraph Seventh of
Section 5136, Revised Statutes (12 U.S.C. 24), obligations of the
International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the
Inter-American Development Bank, the Asian Development
Bank, local public agencies, public housing agencies, and obliga­
tions insured by the Federal Housing Administrator.
SECTION 218.3— AMENDMENTS

The right to alter, amend, or repeal this Part, in whole or in
part, is expressly reserved.
* Section 8 o f the Clayton Act (38 Stat. 782, 49 Stat. 718; 15 U.S.C. 19) is applicable
in certain circumstances to interlocking relationships between member banks and private
bankers, and other banks, banking associations, savings banks and trust companies. See
Part 212 o f this Chapter.
Section 17 (c ) o f the Public Utility Act o f 1985 (49 Stat. 881: 15 U.S.C. 7 9 q (c )) is
applicable in certain circumstances to interlocking relationships between banks and private
bankers (and corporations owned by banks and private bankers), and public utility com­
panies and public utility holding companies. Inquiries regarding this section should be
addressed to the Securities and Exchange Commission and not to the Board o f Governors
o f the Federal Reserve System.
Section 10(c) o f the Investment Company Act o f 1940 (54 Stat. 806; 15 U.S.C. 80a1 0 (c )) is applicable in certain circumstances to interlocking relationships between banks
and registered investment companies. Inquiries regarding this section should be addressed
to the Securities and Exchange Commission and not to the Board of Governors o f the
Federal Reserve System.
Section 305(b) o f the Federal Power Act (49 Stat. 856; 16 U.S.C. 825d (b)) is applicable
in certain circumstances to interlocking relationships between public utility companies and
banks and bankers that are authorized by law to underwrite or participate in the marketing
o f securities o f a public utility. Inquiries regarding this section should be addressed to the
Federal Power Commission and not to the Board o f Governors o f the Federal Reserve
System.




8

APPENDIX
STATUTORY PROVISIONS

Section 32 of the Banking Act of 1933 (12 U.S.C. 78) reads
as follows:
Sec. 32. No officer, director, or employee of any corpora­
tion or unincorporated association, no partner or employee of
any partnership, and no individual, primarily engaged in the
issue, flotation, underwriting, public sale, or distribution, at
wholesale or retail, or through syndicate participation, of
stocks, bonds, or other similar securities, shall serve * the
same time as an officer, director, or employee of any member
bank except in limited classes of cases in which the Board
of Governors of the Federal Reserve System may allow such
service by general regulations when in the judgment of the
said Board it would not unduly influence the investment
policies of such member bank or the advice it gives its cus­
tomers regarding investments.
Paragraph “ Seventh” of Section 5136, Revised Statutes (12
U.S.C. 24) reads as follows:
Seventh. To exercise by its board of directors or duly au­
thorized officers or agents, subject to law, all such incidental
powers as shall be necessary to carry on the business of bank­
ing; by discounting and negotiating promissory notes, drafts,
bills of exchange, and other evidences of debt; by receiving
deposits; by buying and selling exchange, coin, and bullion;
by loaning money on personal security; and by obtaining,
issuing, and circulating notes according to the provisions of
this chapter. The business of dealing in securities and stock
by the association shall be limited to purchasing and selling
such securities and stock without recourse, solely upon the
order, and for the account of, customers, and in no case for
its own account, and the association shall not underwrite
any issue of securities or stock: Provided, That the association
may purchase for its own account investment securities under
such limitations and restrictions as the Comptroller of the
Currency may by regulation prescribe. In no event shall the
total amount of the investment securities of any one obligor
or maker, held by the association for its own account, exceed
♦So in statute as enacted.




4

REGULATION R

at any time 10 per centum of its capital stock actually paid in
and unimpaired and 10 per centum of its unimpaired surplus
fund, except that this limitation shall not require any associa­
tion to dispose of any securities lawfully held by it on August
23, 1935. As used in this section the term “ investment secu­
rities” shall mean marketable obligations, evidencing indebted­
ness of any person, copartnership, association, or corporation
in the form of bonds, notes and/or debentures commonly
known as investment securities under such further definition
of the term “ investment securities” as may by regulation be
prescribed by the Comptroller of the Currency. Except as
hereinafter provided or otherwise permitted by law, nothing
herein contained shall authorize the purchase by the associa­
tion for its own account of any shares of stock of any corpora­
tion. The limitations and restrictions herein contained as to
dealing in, underwriting and purchasing for its own account,
investment securities shall not apply to obligations of the
United States, or general obligations of any State or of any
political subdivision thereof, or obligations issued under au­
thority of the Federal Farm Loan Act, as amended, or issued
by the thirteen banks for cooperatives of any of them or the
Federal Home Loan Banks, or obligations which are insured
by the Federal Housing Administrator pursuant to section
1713 of this title, if the debentures to be issued in payment
of such insured obligations are guaranteed as to principal
and interest by the United States, or obligations, participa­
tions, or other instruments of or issued by the Federal Na­
tional Mortgage Association, or such obligations of any local
public agency (as defined in section 1460(h) of Title 42)
as are secured by an agreement between the local public
agency and the Housing and Home Finance Administrator in
which the local public agency agrees to borrow from said Ad­
ministrator, and said Administrator agrees to lend to said
local public agency, monies in an aggregate amount which
(together with any other monies irrevocably committed to the
payment of interest or such obligations) will suffice to pay,
when due, the interest on and all installments (including the
final installment) of the principal of such obligations, which
monies under the terms of said agreement are required to be
used for such payments, or such obligations of a public hous­
ing agency (as defined in the United States Housing Act of
1937, as amended) as are secured either (1) by an agree­
ment between the public housing agency and the Public Hous­



REGULATION R

5

ing Administration in which the public housing agency agrees
to borrow from the Public Housing Administration, and the
Public Housing Administration agrees to lend to the public
housing agency, prior to the maturity of such obligations
(which obligations shall have a maturity of not more than
eighteen months), monies in an amount which (together with
any other monies irrevocably committed to the payment of
interest on such obligations) will suffice to pay the principal
of such obligations with interest to maturity thereon, which
monies under the terms of said agreement are required to be
used for the purpose of paying the principal of and the inter­
est on such obligations at their maturity, or (2) by a pledge
of annual contributions under an annual contributions con­
tract between such public housing agency and the Public
Housing Administration if such contract shall contain the
covenant by the Public Housing Administration which is au­
thorized by section 1421a (b) of Title 42, and if the maximum
sum and the maximum period specified in such contract pur­
suant to section 1421a (b) of Title 42 shall not be less than
the annual amount and the period for payment which are
requisite to provide for the payment when due of all install­
ments of principal and interest on such obligations: Provided,
That in carrying on the business commonly known as the
safe-deposit business the association shall not invest in the
capital stock of a corporation organized under the law of any
State to conduct a safe-deposit business in an amount in excess
of 15 per centum of the capital stock of the association actual­
ly paid in and unimpaired and 15 per centum of its unim­
paired surplus. The limitations and restrictions herein con­
tained as to dealing in and underwriting investment securities
shall not apply to obligations issued by the International Bank
for Reconstruction and Development, the Inter-American De­
velopment Bank or the Asian Development Bank which are
at the time eligible for purchase by a national bank for its
own account, nor to bonds, notes and other obligations issued
by the Tennessee Valley Authority: Provided, That no associa­
tion shall hold obligations issued by any of said organizations
as a result of underwriting, dealing, or purchasing for its
own account (and for this purpose obligations as to which
it is under commitment shall be deemed to be held by it) in
a total amount exceeding at any one time 10 per centum of
its capital stock actually paid in and unimpaired and 10 per
centum of its unimpaired surplus fund.