§ 32.5 Combination rules. ( a ) *General rule.* Loans or extensions of credit to one borrower will be attributed to another person and each person will be deemed a borrower— ( 1 ) When proceeds of a loan or extension of credit are to be used for the direct benefit of the other person, to the extent of the proceeds so used; or
( 2 ) When a common enterprise is deemed to exist between the persons.
( b ) *Direct benefit.* The proceeds of a loan or extension of credit to a borrower will be deemed to be used for the direct benefit of another person and will be attributed to the other person when the proceeds, or assets purchased with the proceeds, are transferred to another person, other than in a bona fide arm's length transaction where the proceeds are used to acquire property, goods, or services.
( c ) *Common enterprise.* A common enterprise will be deemed to exist and loans to separate borrowers will be aggregated: ( 1 ) When the expected source of repayment for each loan or extension of credit is the same for each borrower and neither borrower has another source of income from which the loan (together with the borrower's other obligations) may be fully repaid. An employer will not be treated as a source of repayment under this paragraph because of wages and salaries paid to an employee, unless the standards of paragraph (c)(2) of this section are met;
( 2 ) When loans or extensions of credit are made— ( i ) To borrowers who are related directly or indirectly through common control, including where one borrower is directly or indirectly controlled by another borrower; and
( ii ) Substantial financial interdependence exists between or among the borrowers. Substantial financial interdependence is deemed to exist when 50 percent or more of one borrower's gross receipts or gross expenditures (on an annual basis) are derived from transactions with the other borrower. Gross receipts and expenditures include gross revenues/expenses, intercompany loans, dividends, capital contributions, and similar receipts or payments;
( 3 ) When separate persons borrow from a national bank or savings association to acquire a business enterprise of which those borrowers will own more than 50 percent of the voting securities or voting interests, in which case a common enterprise is deemed to exist between the borrowers for purposes of combining the acquisition loans; or
( 4 ) When the appropriate Federal banking agency determines, based upon an evaluation of the facts and circumstances of particular transactions, that a common enterprise exists.
( d ) *Special rule for loans to a corporate group.* ( 1 ) Loans or extensions of credit by a national bank or savings association to a corporate group may not exceed 50 percent of the bank's or savings association's capital and surplus. This limitation applies only to loans subject to the combined general limit. A corporate group includes a person and all of its subsidiaries. For purposes of this paragraph, a corporation or a limited liability company is a subsidiary of a person if the person owns or beneficially owns directly or indirectly more than 50 percent of the voting securities or voting interests of the corporation or company.
( 2 ) Except as provided in paragraph (d)(1) of this section, loans or extensions of credit to a person and its subsidiary, or to different subsidiaries of a person, are not combined unless either the direct benefit or the common enterprise test is met.
( e ) *Special rules for loans to partnerships, joint ventures, and associations* — ( 1 ) *Partnership loans.* Loans or extensions of credit to a partnership, joint venture, or association are deemed to be loans or extensions of credit to each member of the partnership, joint venture, or association. This rule does not apply to limited partners in limited partnerships or to members of joint ventures or associations if the partners or members, by the terms of the partnership or membership agreement, are not held generally liable for the debts or actions of the partnership, joint venture, or association, and those provisions are valid under applicable law.
( 2 ) *Loans to partners.* ( i ) Loans or extensions of credit to members of a partnership, joint venture, or association are not attributed to the partnership, joint venture, or association unless either the direct benefit or the common enterprise tests are met. Both the direct benefit and common enterprise tests are met between a member of a partnership, joint venture or association and such partnership, joint venture or association, when loans or extensions of credit are made to the member to purchase an interest in the partnership, joint venture or association.
( ii ) Loans or extensions of credit to members of a partnership, joint venture, or association are not attributed to other members of the partnership, joint venture, or association unless either the direct benefit or common enterprise test is met.
( f ) *Loans to foreign governments, their agencies, and instrumentalities* — ( 1 ) *Aggregation.* Loans and extensions of credit to foreign governments, their agencies, and instrumentalities will be aggregated with one another only if the loans or extensions of credit fail to meet either the means test or the purpose test at the time the loan or extension of credit is made. ( i ) The means test is satisfied if the borrower has resources or revenue of its own sufficient to service its debt obligations. If the government's support (excluding guarantees by a central government of the borrower's debt) exceeds the borrower's annual revenues from other sources, it will be presumed that the means test has not been satisfied.
( ii ) The purpose test is satisfied if the purpose of the loan or extension of credit is consistent with the purposes of the borrower's general business.
( 2 ) *Documentation.* In order to show that the means and purpose tests have been satisfied, a national bank or savings association must, at a minimum, retain in its files the following items: ( i ) A statement (accompanied by supporting documentation) describing the legal status and the degree of financial and operational autonomy of the borrowing entity;
( ii ) Financial statements for the borrowing entity for a minimum of three years prior to the date the loan or extension of credit was made or for each year that the borrowing entity has been in existence, if less than three;
( iii ) Financial statements for each year the loan or extension of credit is outstanding;
( iv ) The national bank's or savings association's assessment of the borrower's means of servicing the loan or extension of credit, including specific reasons in support of that assessment. The assessment shall include an analysis of the borrower's financial history, its present and projected economic and financial performance, and the significance of any financial support provided to the borrower by third parties, including the borrower's central government; and
( v ) A loan agreement or other written statement from the borrower which clearly describes the purpose of the loan or extension of credit. The written representation will ordinarily constitute sufficient evidence that the purpose test has been satisfied. However, when, at the time the funds are disbursed, the bank or savings association knows or has reason to know of other information suggesting that the borrower will use the proceeds in a manner inconsistent with the written representation, it may not, without further inquiry, accept the representation.
( 3 ) *Restructured loans* — ( i ) *Non-combination rule.* Notwithstanding paragraphs (a) through (e) of this section, when previously outstanding loans and other extensions of credit to a foreign government, its agencies, and instrumentalities (i.e., public-sector obligors) that qualified for a separate lending limit under paragraph (f)(1) of this section are consolidated under a central obligor in a qualifying restructuring, such loans will not be aggregated and attributed to the central obligor. This includes any substitution in named obligors, solely because of the restructuring. Such loans (other than loans originally attributed to the central obligor in their own right) will not be considered obligations of the central obligor and will continue to be attributed to the original public-sector obligor for purposes of the lending limit.
( ii ) *Qualifying restructuring.* Loans and other extensions of credit to a foreign government, its agencies, and instrumentalities will qualify for the non-combination process under paragraph (f)(3)(i) of this section only if they are restructured in a sovereign debt restructuring approved by the appropriate Federal banking agency, upon request by a national bank or savings association for application of the non combination rule. The factors that the appropriate Federal banking agency will use in making this determination include, but are not limited to, the following: ( A ) Whether the restructuring involves a substantial portion of the total commercial bank loans outstanding to the foreign government, its agencies, and instrumentalities;
( B ) Whether the restructuring involves a substantial number of the foreign country's external commercial bank creditors;
( C ) Whether the restructuring and consolidation under a central obligor is being done primarily to facilitate external debt management; and
( D ) Whether the restructuring includes features of debt or debt-service reduction.
( iii ) *50 percent aggregate limit.* With respect to any case in which the non-combination process under paragraph (f)(3)(i) of this section applies, a national bank's or savings association's loans and other extensions of credit to a foreign government, its agencies and instrumentalities, (including restructured debt) shall not exceed, in the aggregate, 50 percent of the bank's or savings association's capital and surplus.
[60 FR 8532, Feb. 15, 1995, as amended at 77 FR 37279, June 21, 2012]