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Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation

Division of Supervision

550 17th Street NW, Washington, DC 20429

Foreign Banks
FIL- 7-96
February 22, 1996
TO:
SUBJECT:

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
Final Rule Concerning Domestic
Retail Deposit Activities of Foreign Banks
(Part 346 of the FDIC Rules and Regulations)

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The FDIC's Board of Directors on February 6, 1996, adopted a final rule amending Part 346 of
the agency's regulations governing the operation of state-licensed U.S. branches of foreign
banks. The amendments, which were required by Section 107 of the Riegle-Neal Interstate
Banking and Branching Efficiency Act of 1994, are intended to ensure that foreign banks do not
receive an unfair competitive advantage over U.S. banks in domestic retail deposit-taking. A
copy of the FDIC's final rule is attached.
Part 346 requires any state-licensed branch engaged in "domestic retail deposit activity"
(defined as the acceptance of any initial deposit of less than $100,000) to be an insured branch
unless all initial deposits of less than $100,000 are derived solely from certain specified
categories of depositors or fall within a de minimis exemption. The amendments specify new
exemptions that are similar to, but somewhat narrower than, those in effect previously. The
principal difference concerns the types of businesses from which an uninsured state-licensed
branch may accept initial deposits of less than $100,000. As required by the law, the
amendments also reduce the de minimis exemption from five percent of the average of the
branch's deposits to one percent.

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The final rule provides a transition period allowing uninsured state-licensed branches to conform
existing deposits to the new requirements. Non-time deposits have a five-year transition period.
Time deposits must be reclassified or divested on their first maturity date after the effective date
of the final rule, but no sooner than 90 days after such date. Initial deposits received after the
effective date of the final rule are governed by the new requirements immediately. The effective
date of the final rule is April 1, 1996.
For more information, please contact Charles V. Collier, Assistant Director in the Division of
Supervision (202-898-6850), or Jeffrey M. Kopchik, Counsel in the Legal Division (202-8983872).
Nicholas J. Ketcha Jr.
Director
Attachment: PDF Format (41 kb, PDF help or hard copy), HTML Format
Distribution: U.S. branches of foreign banks
Last Updated 07/13/1999

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