Bill Summary & Status
H.R.10 (Major Legislation)
SPONSOR: Rep Leach (introduced
01/07/97)
TITLE(S):
STATUS:
Floor ActionsSTATUS: Detailed Legislative Status
STATUS: Congressional Record Page References
03/19/98 Full text of Leach amendment printed (CR H1337-1374)
03/26/98 Full text of Dreier amendment printed (CR H1644-1647)
04/30/98 Full text of Leach amendment printed (CR H2708-2737)
05/12/98 Full text of Jackson-Lee amendments printed (CR H3106)
05/13/98 Full text of Measure with substitute amendment in House printed (CR H3143-3172)
05/13/98 Full text of Bliley amendment printed (CR H3173-3176)
05/13/98 Full text of LaFalce amendment printed (CR H3182-3185)
05/13/98 Full text of Baker amendment printed (CR H3192-3194)
05/13/98 Full text of Baker amendment as modified printed (CR H3195-3197)
05/13/98 Full text of Roukema amendments printed (CR H3204, H3214)
05/13/98 Full text of Leach amendment printed (CR H3209)
05/13/98 Full text of Kingston amendment printed (CR H3213)
05/13/98 Full text of Sanders amendment printed (CR H3218)
05/13/98 Full text of Metcalf amendment printed (CR H3218)
05/13/98 Full text of J. Moran amendment printed (CR H3220)
COMMITTEE(S):
AMENDMENT(S):
H.AMDT.619 - H.AMDT.620 - H.AMDT.621 - H.AMDT.622 - H.AMDT.623 - H.AMDT.624 - H.AMDT.625 - H.AMDT.626 - H.AMDT.627 - H.AMDT.628
3 COSPONSORS:
| Rep Roukema - 01/07/97 | Rep Castle - 01/07/97 |
| Rep Lazio - 01/07/97 |
SUMMARY:
(REVISED AS OF 05/13/98 -- Passed House, amended)
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Financial Services Act of 1998 - Title I: Facilitating Affiliation Among Securities Firms, Insurance Companies, and Depository Institutions - Subtitle A: Affiliations - Amends the Banking Act of 1933 (Glass-Steagall Act) to repeal the prohibitions: (1) against affiliation of any Federal Reserve member bank with an entity engaged principally in securities activities (securities affiliate); and (2) against simultaneous service by any officer, director, or employee of a securities firm as an officer, director, or employee of any member bank (interlocking directorates).
(Sec. 102) Amends the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956 (BHCA) to exempt from its prohibition against interests in nonbanking organizations the shares of any company whose activities had been determined by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (the Board), as of the day before the date of enactment of this Act, to be so closely related to banking as to be a proper incident thereto.
(Sec. 103) Creates a statutory mechanism for the establishment of financial holding companies (FHCs) whose subsidiary depository institutions are well-capitalized and well-managed and meet other specified criteria. Instructs the Board to establish and apply comparable capital standards to a foreign bank with a subsidiary bank or commercial lending company in the United States. Cites conditions under which newly acquired depository institutions shall enjoy limited exclusions from the community needs requirements of the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977.
Permits an FHC and a Board-supervised investment bank holding company (BHC) to engage in any activity and acquire the shares of any company whose activities have been determined by the Board to be either financial in nature, or incidental to financial activities. Includes among such activities investments, lending, insurance, securities transactions, certain financial operations abroad, and ownership or control of banking interests. Requires an FHC to make assurances that risk management procedures adequately protect insured depository institution subsidiaries, including reasonable measures to preserve separate corporate identity and limited liability.
Cites circumstances under which an FHC (and its foreign counterpart) may engage in nonfinancial activities. Permits FHCs which were not BHCs or foreign banks before becoming FHCs to retain limited non-financial activities and affiliations. Sets forth cross-marketing restrictions for FHC-controlled depository institutions.
(Sec. 104) Preempts State anti-affiliation laws restricting transactions among insured depository institutions, wholesale financial institutions, insurance concerns, and national banks. Cites exceptions to such preemption, especially for State regulation of the business of insurance.
(Sec. 105) Requires that mutual bank holding companies be regulated on the same terms as bank holding companies.
(Sec. 106) Amends the Riegle-Neal Interstate Banking and Branching Efficiency Act of 1994 (RNIBBEA) to apply its prohibition against deposit production offices to interstate branches acquired or established under this Act, including all branches of a bank owned by an out-of-State BHC.
(Sec. 107) Amends the Federal Deposit Insurance Act (FDIA) to apply to any branch of a bank controlled by an out-of-State BHC certain requirements for branch closures by an interstate bank.
(Sec. 108) Authorizes well-capitalized and well-managed limited purpose banks to engage in any banking activity. (Maintains the restriction that such banks may accept demand deposits or make commercial loans, but not both.) Prohibits such banks from permitting any overdraft (including intraday overdrafts), or incurring overdrafts in their accounts at a Federal Reserve Bank, on behalf of an affiliate, with certain exceptions. Permits such banks to: (1) issue corporate credit cards; (2) cross market affiliates; and (3) avoid divestiture by correcting violations within six months of receiving notice from the Board.
(Sec. 109) Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to study and report to the Congress on the extent to which adequate services are being provided as intended by the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977, including services in low- and moderate-income neighborhoods and for persons of modest means, as a result of this Act.
(Sec. 110) Instructs the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to submit an interim report to the Congress on its ongoing multistage study of consumer privacy issues.
(Sec. 110A) Instructs the Comptroller General to study and report to the Congress on the projected economic impact that enactment of this Act will have on certain financial institutions with total assets of $100 million or less. Subtitle B: Streamlining Supervision of Financial Holding Companies - Revises BHCA reporting and examination requirements to: (1) require the Board to accept as BHC compliance reports any information sufficient to make a compliance determination that is reasonably available from other regulatory agencies or self-regulatory organizations; (2) allow Board examinations of a BHC's functionally regulated nondepository institution (nonbank) subsidiary only if its functions and transactions could have a materially adverse effect on the safety and soundness of any of the holding company's depository institution affiliates; and (3) direct the Board to use reports of examinations made by other Federal and State banking, securities and insurance regulators. Defines functionally regulated nondepository institution subsidiary as a registered securities broker-dealer, registered investment adviser, State-regulated insurance company, or commodities activities regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Requires the Board to defer to: (1) Federal and State depository institution supervisory authority with respect to bank examinations; and (2) Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and State insurance authorities with respect to the functional regulation of the securities and insurance industries.
(Sec. 111) Prohibits the Board from imposing any capital or capital adequacy criteria upon a non-depository institution FHC subsidiary that is in compliance with State or Federal capitalization rules, or is registered under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940.
Authorizes the Board to transfer its BHC oversight authority to the appropriate Federal banking agency if a BHC is not significantly engaged in non-banking activities.
Mandates Board deference to the SEC and to State insurance regulators with respect to interpretations and enforcement of activities within their respective jurisdictions.
(Sec. 112) Provides that a declaration filed by a company seeking to be an FHC shall satisfy BHC registration requirements but not any requirement to file an application to acquire a bank.
Revises BHCA divestiture procedures to permit a BHC to elect divestiture of either a nonbanking subsidiary or an insured depository institution.
(Sec. 113) Declares ineffective and non-enforceable any Board actions requiring an insurance company BHC or a registered securities broker-dealer BHC to provide assets to a subsidiary insured depository institution if the State insurance authority, or the SEC, determines in writing that such actions would have a material adverse effect on the BHC's financial condition. Permits the Board to order divestiture of the subsidiary in lieu of other action.
(Sec. 114) Authorizes the Board to restrict relationships or transactions between a BHC depository institution subsidiary and its affiliates (other than a subsidiary of the institution).
(Sec. 115) Grants the SEC exclusive authority to examine and inspect any non-BHC registered investment company. Prohibits a Federal banking agency from inspecting or examining such a non-BHC company.
(Sec. 116) Prohibits the Board from taking any action under the BHCA or the FDIA against a BHC-regulated subsidiary unless it is necessary to prevent or redress an unsafe or unsound practice or breach of fiduciary duty by the subsidiary that poses a material risk to the financial safety, soundness or stability of an affiliated depository institution or to the domestic or international payment systems.
(Sec. 117) Declares it is the intent of the Congress that the Board and State insurance regulators should: (1) coordinate their respective supervision of companies that control a depository institution and a company engaged in insurance activities; and (2) share relevant information on a confidential basis (including information regarding the financial health of the consolidated organization, and transactions and relationships between insurance companies and affiliated depository institutions). States that Federal banking agencies for depository institutions should also share information with State insurance regulators on a confidential basis regarding transactions and relationships between depository institutions and affiliated companies engaged in insurance activities. Sets forth guidelines for such information exchange and confidentiality. Subtitle C: Subsidiaries of National Banks - Amends Federal law governing national banks to prohibit a subsidiary of a national bank from engaging in any activity, or owning any shares of a company engaged in any activity, that a national bank is not permitted to engage in directly, or that is conducted under terms or conditions other than those that would govern the conduct of the activity by a national bank. Authorizes a national bank to own a subsidiary engaged in activities that are not permissible for a national bank only if a national bank is specifically authorized by the express terms of a Federal statute to own or control the subsidiary.
(Sec. 121) Authorizes a national bank, with Comptroller of the Currency approval, to control a company that engages in agency activities determined to be financial in nature or incidental to such activities if: (1) the company engages in such activities solely as agent and not directly or indirectly as principal; and (2) the national bank and all its depository institution affiliates are well- capitalized and well-managed and have achieved a satisfactory or better rating under the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977 (CRA) at the institution's most recent examination.
(Sec. 122) Amends Federal criminal law to proscribe misrepresentations regarding depository institution liability for obligations of affiliates.
(Sec. 123) Amends the Federal Reserve Act to repeal: (1) the Board's power to restrict the percentage of individual bank capital and surplus represented by loans secured by stock or bond collateral; and (2) the Board's duty to establish such restrictions with a view to preventing the undue use of bank loans for the speculative carrying of securities.
Subtitle D: Holding Companies; Wholesale Financial Institutions - Chapter 1: Wholesale Financial Holding Companies - Sets forth a statutory mechanism for regulation of wholesale financial holding companies that do not control a bank other than a wholesale financial institution (WFI) or specified, limited-purpose institutions. Requires such a company to be a registered bank holding company predominantly engaged in certain financial activities, and in control of one or more WFIs. Specifies the limits of Board examinations of such companies. Specifies the kinds of nonfinancial activities in which Board-supervised companies may engage.
(Sec. 131) Sets forth guidelines for the treatment of certain foreign banks operating within the United States as Board-supervised wholesale financial holding companies with respect to certain nonfinancial investments affiliations.
Chapter 2: Wholesale Financial Institutions - Amends the Revised Statutes to permit a national bank to operate as a noninsured national WFI subject to FRA and the regulatory authority of the Comptroller of the Currency. Amends FRA to prescribe procedural guidelines for State bank membership as a noninsured WFI in the Federal Reserve System, subject to FDIA enforcement authority and prompt corrective action requirements. Subjects such institutions to the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977.
(Sec. 136) Prohibits a WFI from receiving initial deposits of $100,000 or less except on an incidental and occasional basis. Limits incidental deposits of $100,000 or less to a maximum five percent of a WFI's total deposits.
Sets forth capital and managerial requirements for certain WFIs controlled by companies under the jurisdiction of either the SEC or the BHCA.
Amends FDIA to prescribe procedures whereby an insured State-chartered bank or a national bank may voluntarily terminate its status as an insured depository institution. Requires any such terminated bank to become a WFI in order to accept any deposits.
Subtitle E: Preservation of FTC Authority - Amends the BHCA to require the Board to notify the FTC of its approval of a proposed acquisition, merger, or consolidation which involves acquisition of nonbanking interests.
(Sec. 142) Directs certain Federal banking agencies to make data available to the Attorney General and the FTC that they deem necessary for antitrust review under specified statutes.
(Sec. 143) Excludes from FTC jurisdiction any nondepository institution subsidiary or affiliate of a bank or savings association.
Amends the Clayton Act to apply its premerger notification and waiting period requirements to any portion of a merger or acquisition transaction that does require notice under BHCA but does not require approval.
(Sec. 144) Instructs the Comptroller General to report annually to the Congress on market concentration in the financial services industry and its impact on consumers.
Subtitle F: Applying the Principles of National Treatment and Equality of Competitive Opportunity to Foreign Banks and Foreign Financial Institutions - Amends the International Banking Act of 1978 (IBA) to terminate the grandfathered authority of a foreign bank or company under the IBA to engage in any financial activity, if it files a BHCA declaration to function as a qualified BHC (QBHC). (Consequently, foreign banks with grandfathered affiliates would be permitted to keep them on the same terms and conditions that govern domestic banking organizations.)
(Sec. 152) Amends the FDIA to allow insured foreign banks and foreign WFIs to terminate deposit insurance voluntarily in the same manner and to the same extent as insured State or national banks.
Subtitle G: Federal Home Loan Bank System - Amends the Federal Home Loan Bank Act (FHLBA) to direct the Federal Housing Finance Board to divide the States into not less than one (currently, not less than eight), nor more than 12 districts.
(Sec. 162) Amends the Home Owners Loan Act to convert Federal Home Loan Bank (FHLB) System membership for savings and loan associations from a mandatory to a voluntary status beginning January 1, 1999.
Amends FHLBA to: (1) permit long-term advances to certain small-sized (under $500 million in assets) FDIC-insured members for the purpose of funding small businesses, agriculture, rural development, or low-income community development; (2) exempt such members from the FHLBA membership eligibility requirement that at least ten percent of total assets be in residential mortgage loans; and (3) repeal qualified thrift lender status as a criterion for advances to members and the capital required to support such advances.
(Sec. 163) Requires the FHLB's to operate jointly an Office of Finance to issue notes, bonds, and debentures on their behalf.
(Sec. 164) Revises the management of each FHLB to increase the number of directors from 14 to 15, with nine elected members and six appointed members. Limits the terms for both elected and appointed members to three-year terms with a three-year waiting period thereafter. Divides elected directors into three classes according to size of financial institutions and geographical locations.
(Sec. 165) Permits FHLB advances to certain nonmember National Housing Act mortgagees to facilitate mortgage lending that benefits individuals and families meeting certain IRS income levels.
(Sec. 166) Transfers authority to the Office of Finance to issue consolidated obligations of the FHLB's and to set conditions for such obligations.
(Sec. 167) Permits voluntary FHLB mergers and consolidations, and specifies the number of elected and appointed directors that shall result from such a process.
(Sec. 168) Repeals the mandates for an informal review procedure and for an FHLB Housing Opportunity Hotline program. Requires the Finance Board to prohibit compensation of FHLB directors, officers, and employees that is not reasonable and comparable to employment compensation in similar businesses. Grants the Finance Board enforcement authorities similar to those the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight exercises over Federal housing government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs).
(Sec. 169) Extends FHLBA coverage to American Samoa and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.
(Sec. 170) Revises FHLB shortfall interest payments to the Resolution Funding Corporation to a specified percentage of each bank's net earnings each calendar year.
(Sec. 171) Revises FHLB capital structure guidelines to require FHLB boards of directors to submit for Finance Board approval a capital structure plan meeting prescribed criteria. Requires the Finance Board to promulgate uniform FHLB capital standards in accordance with such criteria.
(Sec. 172) Repeals FHLB authority to make loans to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation for the use of the Savings Association Insurance Fund. Requires each FHLB to reduce its investments to those necessary for liquidity purposes, for safe and sound bank operation, or for housing finance as administered by the Finance Board.
(Sec. 173) Adds the Secretary of the Treasury to the Federal Housing Finance Board and reduces from four to three the number of citizens appointed to such Board.
Subtitle H: Direct Activities of Banks - Amends Federal banking law to provide that limitations placed on securities transactions by a national banking association for its own account do not apply to municipal bond transactions by a well-capitalized national banking association. Subtitle I: Deposit Insurance Funds - Directs the Board of Directors of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation to study and report to the Congress on specified issues regarding the Bank Insurance Fund and the Savings Association Insurance Fund, including their safety and soundness, and the adequacy of their reserve requirements in light of mergers and consolidations within the industry.
Subtitle J: Effective Date of Title - Sets forth the effective date of Title I of this Act.
Title II: Functional Regulation - Subtitle A: Brokers and Dealers - Amends the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (Exchange Act) to include certain bank activities within the definition of "broker" and "dealer" (thus subjecting them to registration requirements and regulation under the Exchange Act).
(Sec. 203) Requires a registered securities association to create a limited qualification category, without a testing requirement, for certain bank employees effecting sales as part of a non-public primary securities offering (private placement sales).
(Sec. 204) Amends the FDIA to direct the appropriate Federal banking agencies to: (1) promulgate regulations and complaint procedures applicable to retail transactions, solicitations, advertising, or offers of any security by any insured depository institution or affiliate other than a registered broker or dealer; (2) jointly establish a grievance process for customer complaints against banks or bank employees arising in connection with securities sales or purchases; and (3) establish recordkeeping requirements for banks relying on exceptions and exemptions from the definitions of broker and dealer under the Exchange Act.
(Sec. 206) Defines traditional banking product, and amends the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to define new banking product as a security that: (1) was not subjected to Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regulation as a security before enactment of this subtitle; and (2) is not a traditional banking product.
Declares that, unless it has imposed such a requirement by rule or regulation, the SEC shall not: (1) require a bank to register as a broker or dealer because the bank engages in any transaction in, or buys or sells, a new banking product; or (2) bring an action against a bank for a failure to comply with a such a requirement.
(Sec. 207) Amends the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to define: (1) derivative instrument so as to exclude a traditional banking product; (2) qualified investor; and (3) government security, so as to include a qualified Canadian government obligation.
(Sec. 210) Declares that nothing in this Act shall supersede, affect, or otherwise limit the scope and applicability of the Commodity Exchange Act. Subtitle B: Bank Investment Company Activities - Amends the Investment Company Act of 1940 to authorize the SEC to prescribe conditions under which a bank or its affiliate serving as promoter, organizer, or principal underwriter for a registered management company or a registered unit investment trust may also serve as custodian of such company or trust. Permits the SEC to bring a civil action against a custodian for a registered investment company for breach of fiduciary duty involving personal misconduct.
(Sec. 212) Declares it is unlawful for an affiliate, promoter or principal underwriter for a registered investment company to lend to such company or its subsidiaries in contravention of SEC prescriptions.
(Sec. 213) Modifies the definition of "interested person" to identify transactions, services, and loans taking place during the six months preceding determination of an interested person which would make a person an affiliated person of a broker or dealer.
Prohibits a registered investment company from having a majority of its board of directors consisting of personnel or senior officers of the subsidiaries of any one bank, or of any single BHC, its affiliates and subsidiaries.
(Sec. 214) Modifies guidelines pertaining to unlawful misrepresentation of guarantees and the deceptive use of names.
(Sec. 215) Modifies the definition of "broker" to exclude any person who would be deemed a broker solely by reason of the fact that such person is an underwriter for one or more investment companies.
(Sec. 216) Modifies the definition of "dealer" to exclude an insurance or an investment company.
(Sec. 217) Amends the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 to modify the definitions of investment adviser to remove the exclusion for banks that advise investment companies. Revises the definitions of broker and dealer.
(Sec. 220) Mandates interagency sharing between the appropriate Federal banking agency and the SEC of examination results and other information pertaining to the investment advisory activities of a registered BHC and its separately identifiable departments or divisions.
(Sec. 221) Amends the Securities Act of 1933 and the Exchange Act to revise the exclusion from their purview of certain bank common trust funds to specify the exclusion of any interest or participation in any common trust fund or similar fund that is excluded from the definition of "investment company" under the Investment Company Act of 1940. Amends the Investment Company Act of 1940 to revise such exclusion guidelines for certain bank common trust funds.
(Sec. 222) Amends the Investment Company Act of 1940 to prescribe circumstances under which an investment adviser holding shares of an investment company in a fiduciary capacity must transfer the power to vote such shares to the beneficial owners or to another non-affiliated fiduciary.
Subtitle C: SEC Supervision of Investment Bank Holding Companies - Amends the Exchange Act of 1934 to permit certain investment bank holding companies that do not have a bank or savings association affiliate to elect SEC supervision.
(Sec. 231) Provides for voluntary withdrawal from SEC supervision by specified investment bank holding companies. Sets forth the parameters of SEC supervision of investment bank holding companies, including authority to set capital adequacy standards. Instructs the SEC, in developing its rules, to consider use of debt and other liabilities (double leverage) by the supervised investment BHC in order to fund capital investments in affiliates.
Prohibits the SEC from imposing capital adequacy requirements on regulated entities that are in compliance with the capital requirements of another Federal regulatory body or State insurance authority.
Mandates SEC deference to appropriate regulatory banking agencies and State insurance regulators with respect to the banking and insurance laws under their purviews.
Grants the SEC backup inspection authority for certain wholesale financial holding companies for monitoring and compliance enforcement purposes.
Subtitle D: Study - Directs the Comptroller General to report to the Congress on the efficacy, costs, and benefits of requiring a federally-insured depository institution to disclose to its retail consumers through the use of a logo or seal that its investment or insurance products are not FDIC-insured.
(Sec. 242) Directs the Comptroller General to report to the Congress regarding the efficacy and benefits of uniformly limiting commissions and costs incurred by customers in the acquisition of financial products.
Subtitle E: Disclosure of Customer Costs of Acquiring Financial Products - Requires each Federal financial regulatory authority to prescribe or revise rules to improve the accuracy, simplicity, and completeness, and to make more consistent, the disclosure of information concerning commissions and other costs incurred by customers in the acquisition of financial products.
Title III: Insurance - Subtitle A: State Regulation of Insurance - Declares that the McCarran-Ferguson Act remains the law of the United States.
(Sec. 302) Mandates: (1) State licensure of any entity providing insurance in a State as principal or agent; and (2) functional regulation of insurance sales activity.
(Sec. 304) Prohibits a national bank and its subsidiaries from providing insurance as principal in a State, except for certain authorized products (which may not include title insurance or taxable annuity contracts).
(Sec. 305) Mandates acquisition of existing licensed agents by any national bank or its subsidiary newly seeking to provide insurance as agent in a State after the date of enactment of this Act.
(Sec. 306) Prohibits national banks and subsidiaries from selling or underwriting title insurance, except for certain grandfathered banks and subsidiaries already doing so. Grants national banks and subsidiaries authority to sell title insurance, subject to certain limitations, in a State within which the State's own State-chartered banks were authorized under State law to sell title insurance as of January 1, 1997.
(Sec. 307) Establishes expedited dispute resolution for regulatory conflicts between State insurance regulators and Federal financial regulators.
(Sec. 308) Requires each Federal banking agency to: (1) issue consumer protection regulations (including physical segregation of banking activities from insurance product activities); and prohibit discrimination against victims of domestic violence.
Expresses the sense of the Congress that the States should adopt regulations prohibiting such discrimination regarding insurance products that are at least as strict as those under this Act.
Mandates that the Federal banking agencies jointly establish a consumer complaint mechanism to expeditiously address violations of this Act.
(Sec. 309) Preempts State law restricting: (1) insurance companies or insurance affiliates from becoming a financial holding company or acquiring control of a bank; and (2) the amount of an insurer's assets that can be invested in a bank (except that the insurer's State of domicile may limit such investments to five percent (or any higher threshold) of the insurer's admitted assets). Preempts State laws that restrict reorganization by an insurer from mutual form to stock form.
Subtitle B: Redomestication of Mutual Insurers - Applies this title only to a mutual insurance company in a State which has not enacted a law expressly establishing reasonable terms for a mutual insurance company domiciliary to reorganize into a mutual holding company.
(Sec. 312) Authorizes a mutual insurer organized under the laws of any State to transfer its domicile to another State pursuant to a reorganization in which such insurer becomes a stock insurer that is a subsidiary of a mutual holding company. Requires prospective redomesticating insurers to comply with specified reorganization requirements of the State insurance regulator of the transferee domicile. Preempts State laws restricting such redomestication.
Subtitle C: National Association of Registered Agents and Brokers - Sets forth a regulatory framework for uniform multistate licensing for insurance sales practices, to take effect only if a majority of the States have not enacted uniform laws and regulations governing the licensure of insurance sales by individuals and entities within three years after enactment of this Act.
(Sec. 322) Establishes the National Association of Registered Agents and Brokers (the Association) as a non-profit, non-Federal agency, to provide a mechanism for uniform licensing, continuing education and insurance producer sales qualification requirements which can be adopted and applied on a multistate basis, while preserving the right of States to regulate insurance producers and insurance-related consumer protection and unfair trade practices.
(Sec. 324) Subjects the Association (which shall not be considered a Federal agency or instrumentality) to regulation by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC). Requires the Association to establish an office of consumer complaints. Vests management of the Association in a board of directors. Cites circumstances under which Association rules preempt State regulation of insurance producers. Requires the Association to coordinate with the National Association of Securities Dealers in order to mitigate administrative burdens that may result from dual membership.
Title IV: Unitary Savings and Loan Holding Companies - Amends the Home Owners' Loan Act to deny the current exemption from certain prohibited business activities to companies that apply after March 31, 1998, to become unitary savings and loan holding companies. Continues such exemption for existing unitary savings and loan holding companies and their successors.
(Sec. 402) Amends specified Federal law to declare that any depository institution the charter of which is converted from that of a Federal savings association to a national bank or a State bank after enactment of this Act may retain the term "Federal" in its name so long as it remains an insured depository institution.