U.S. Federal Reserve Announces Approval of Final Rule Outlining Procedures for Securities Holding Companies to Elect Federal Reserve Supervision
May 31, 2012
The U.S. Federal Reserve issued the following news release on May 30, 2012:
The Federal Reserve Board on Wednesday announced the approval of a final rule outlining the procedures for securities holding companies (SHCs) to elect to be supervised by the Federal Reserve. An SHC is a nonbank company that owns at least one registered broker or dealer.
The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act eliminated the previous supervision framework that applied to SHCs under the Securities and Exchange Commission and permitted SHCs to be supervised by the Federal Reserve. An SHC may seek supervision by the Federal Reserve to meet requirements by a regulator in another country that the firm be subject to comprehensive, consolidated supervision in the United States in order to operate in the country.
The final rule specifies the information that an SHC will need to provide to the Board as part of registration for supervision, including information related to organizational structure, capital, and financial condition. Under the final rule, an SHC’s registration becomes effective no later than 45 days from the date the Board receives all required information.
The final rule provides that upon an effective registration, an SHC would be supervised and regulated as if it were a bank holding company. However, consistent with the Dodd-Frank Act, the restrictions on nonbanking activities in the Bank Holding Company Act would not apply to a supervised SHC.