I

103D CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 4926

To require the Secretary of the Treasury to identify foreign countries which

may be denying national treatment to United States banking organizations and to assess whether any such denial may be having a significant

adverse effect on such organizations, and to require Federal banking

agencies to take such assessments into account in considering applications by foreign banks under the International Banking Act of 1978

and the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

AUGUST 9, 1994

Mr. SCHUMER (for himself and Mr. LEACH) introduced the following bill;

which was referred to the Committee on Banking, Finance and Urban Affairs

A BILL

To require the Secretary of the Treasury to identify foreign

countries which may be denying national treatment to

United States banking organizations and to assess

whether any such denial may be having a significant

adverse effect on such organizations, and to require Federal banking agencies to take such assessments into account in considering applications by foreign banks under

the International Banking Act of 1978 and the Bank

Holding Company Act of 1956.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘National Treatment

3 in Banking Act of 1994’’.

4 SEC. 2. FAILURE TO ACCORD NATIONAL TREATMENT TO

5 UNITED STATES BANKING ORGANIZATIONS.

6 (a) IDENTIFYING COUNTRIES THAT MAY BE DENY7 ING NATIONAL TREATMENT TO UNITED STATES BANK8 ING ORGANIZATIONS.—The Secretary of the Treasury

9 shall identify, after consultation with any appropriate Fed10 eral banking agency, the extent to which foreign countries

11 may be denying national treatment to United States bank12 ing organizations—

13 (1) based on information relating to banking in

14 the most recent report under section 3602 of the

15 Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988

16 (or the most recent update of such report); or

17 (2) based on more recent information that the

18 Secretary considers appropriate.

19 (b) ASSESSING WHETHER POSSIBLE DENIAL OF NA20 TIONAL TREATMENT MAY BE HAVING A SIGNIFICANT

21 ADVERSE EFFECT.—

22 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall assess,

23 after consultation with any appropriate Federal

24 banking agency, whether the possible denial of na25 tional treatment to United States banking organiza26 tions by a foreign country identified under sub-
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1 section (a) may be having a significant adverse ef2 fect on such organizations.

3 (2) FACTORS TO BE CONSIDERED.—In making

4 any assessment under paragraph (1), the Secretary

5 shall consider appropriate factors, including the fol6 lowing:

7 (A) The extent of United States trade with

8 and investment in the foreign country, the size

9 of the foreign country’s markets for banking

10 services, and the extent to which United States

11 banking organizations operate or seek to oper12 ate in those markets.

13 (B) The importance of operations by

14 United States banking organizations in the for15 eign country to the export of goods and services

16 by United States firms to such country.

17 (C) The extent to which the foreign coun18 try provides in advance to United States bank19 ing organizations a written draft of any

20 measure of general application that the country

21 proposes to adopt, such as regulations, guide22 lines, or other policies regarding new products

23 and services, in order to allow an opportunity

24 for such organizations to comment on the meas-
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1 ure and for such comments to be taken into ac2 count by the foreign country.

3 (D) The extent to which the foreign coun4 try—

5 (i) makes available, in writing, to

6 United States banking organizations the

7 foreign country’s requirements for complet8 ing any application relating to the provi9 sion of financial services by any such orga10 nization;

11 (ii) applies published, objective stand12 ards and criteria in evaluating any such

13 application from any United States bank14 ing organization; and

15 (iii) renders administrative decisions

16 relating to any such application within a

17 reasonable period of time.

18 (3) SOLICITATION OF COMMENTS.—Before

19 making any assessment under paragraph (1), the

20 Secretary may solicit comments concerning the ef21 fect of the possible denial of national treatment on

22 United States banking organizations from interested

23 parties.

24 (c) PUBLICATION.—The Secretary shall publish a no25 tice in the Federal Register of—
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1 (1) any assessment made under paragraph (1)

2 with respect to any country; and

3 (2) any change made with respect to any as4 sessment under such paragraph which was pre5 viously published in the Federal Register.

6 (d) DEFINITIONS.—The following definitions shall

7 apply for purposes of this section:

8 (1) APPROPRIATE FEDERAL BANKING AGEN9 CY.—The term ‘‘appropriate Federal banking agen10 cy’’ has the same meaning as in section 3(q) of the

11 Federal Deposit Insurance Act.

12 (2) BANKING ORGANIZATION.—

13 (A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘banking or14 ganization’’ means any bank, any bank holding

15 company (including any company required to

16 file reports pursuant to section 4(f)(6) of the

17 Bank Holding Company Act of 1956), and any

18 savings and loan holding company (as such

19 term is defined in section 10(a)(1)(D) of the

20 Home Owners’ Loan Act).

21 (B) BANKING TERMS.—For purposes of

22 this paragraph, the terms ‘‘bank’’ and ‘‘bank

23 holding company’’ have the same meaning as in

24 section 2 of the Bank Holding Company Act of

25 1956.
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1 (3) NATIONAL TREATMENT.—The term ‘‘na2 tional treatment’’ means, with respect to any foreign

3 country, treatment that offers United States bank4 ing organizations the same competitive opportunities

5 (including effective market access) in such country

6 as are available to the foreign country’s domestic

7 banking organizations in like circumstances.

8 (4) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means

9 the Secretary of the Treasury.

10 SEC. 3. APPLICATIONS BY FOREIGN BANKS.

11 (a) APPLICATIONS UNDER THE INTERNATIONAL

12 BANKING ACT OF 1978.—Section 7(d) of the Inter13 national Banking Act of 1978 (12 U.S.C. 3105(d)) is

14 amended by adding at the end the following new para15 graph:

16 ‘‘(6) ADDITIONAL STANDARD.—In acting on

17 any application under paragraph (1), the Board

18 shall take into account whether the Secretary of the

19 Treasury has made an assessment, in accordance

20 with section 2(b) of the National Treatment in

21 Banking Act of 1994, that the possible denial of na22 tional treatment to United States banking organiza23 tions by the foreign bank’s home country identified

24 under section 2(a) of such Act may be having a sig25 nificant adverse effect on such organizations.’’.
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1 (b) APPLICATIONS UNDER THE BANK HOLDING

2 COMPANY ACT OF 1956.—Section 5 of the Bank Holding

3 Company Act of 1956 (12 U.S.C. 1844) is amended by

4 adding at the end the following new subsection:

5 ‘‘(g) APPLICATIONS BY A FOREIGN BANK.—In con6 sidering any application or notice under section 3 or 4 by

7 any foreign bank (as defined in section 1(b) of the Inter8 national Banking Act of 1978), the Board shall take into

9 account whether the Secretary of the Treasury has made

10 an assessment, in accordance with section 2(b) of the Na11 tional Treatment in Banking Act of 1994, that the pos12 sible denial of national treatment to United States bank13 ing organizations by the foreign bank’s home country

14 identified under section 2(a) of such Act may be having

15 a significant adverse effect on such organizations.’’.

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