103D CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 4926

AN ACT

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 certain applications and notices by

foreign banks and other persons of a foreign country.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
2

HR 4926 EH

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 the Federal banking

10 agencies, the extent to which foreign countries may be de11 nying national treatment to United States banking organi12 zations—

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 the Federal banking agen24 cies, whether the possible denial of national treat25 ment to United States banking organizations by a

26 foreign country identified under subsection (a) may
3

HR 4926 EH

1 be having a significant adverse effect on such orga2 nizations.

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-
4

HR 4926 EH

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 may publish a no25 tice in the Federal Register of—
5

HR 4926 EH

1 (1) any assessment made under subsection

2 (b)(1) with respect to any country; and

3 (2) any change made with respect to any as4 sessment under such subsection 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) BANKING ORGANIZATION.—

9 (A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘banking or10 ganization’’ means any bank, any bank holding

11 company (including any company required to

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

13 Bank Holding Company Act of 1956), and any

14 savings and loan holding company (as such

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

16 Home Owners’ Loan Act).

17 (B) BANKING TERMS.—For purposes of

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

19 holding company’’ have the same meaning as in

20 section 2 of the Bank Holding Company Act of

21 1956.

22 (2) FEDERAL BANKING AGENCIES.—The term

23 ‘‘Federal banking agencies’’ has the same meaning

24 as in section 3(z) of the Federal Deposit Insurance

25 Act.
6

HR 4926 EH

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 AND OTHER

11 PERSONS OF A FOREIGN COUNTRY.

12 (a) APPLICATIONS UNDER THE INTERNATIONAL

13 BANKING ACT OF 1978.—Section 7(d) of the Inter14 national Banking Act of 1978 (12 U.S.C. 3105(d)) is

15 amended by adding at the end the following new para16 graph:

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

18 any application under paragraph (1), the Board

19 shall take into account whether the Secretary of the

20 Treasury has published a notice, in accordance with

21 section 2(c) of the National Treatment in Banking

22 Act of 1994, that the possible denial of national

23 treatment to United States banking organizations by

24 the foreign bank’s home country identified under
7

HR 4926 EH

1 section 2(a) of such Act may be having a significant

2 adverse effect on such organizations.’’.

3 (b) APPLICATIONS UNDER THE BANK HOLDING

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

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

6 adding at the end the following new subsection:

7 ‘‘(g) APPLICATIONS BY A FOREIGN BANK.—In con8 sidering any application or notice under section 3 or 4 by

9 any foreign bank (as defined in section 1(b) of the Inter10 national Banking Act of 1978), the Board shall take into

11 account whether the Secretary of the Treasury has pub12 lished a notice, in accordance with section 2(c) of the Na13 tional Treatment in Banking Act of 1994, that the pos14 sible denial of national treatment to United States bank15 ing organizations by the foreign bank’s home country

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

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

18 (c) AMENDMENT TO CHANGE IN BANK CONTROL

19 ACT.—Section 7(j) of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act

20 (12 U.S.C. 1817(j)) is amended by adding at the end the

21 following new paragraph:

22 ‘‘(19) NOTICE BY A PERSON OF A FOREIGN

23 COUNTRY.—

24 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—In considering a no25 tice under this subsection by a person of a for-
8

HR 4926 EH

1 eign country, the appropriate Federal banking

2 agency shall take into account whether the Sec3 retary of the Treasury has published a notice,

4 in accordance with section 2(c) of the National

5 Treatment in Banking Act of 1994, that the

6 possible denial of national treatment to United

7 States banking organizations by such person’s

8 home country identified under section 2(a) of

9 such Act may be having a significant adverse

10 effect on such organizations.

11 ‘‘(B) PERSON OF A FOREIGN COUNTRY DE12 FINED.—For purposes of this paragraph, the

13 term ‘person of a foreign country’ means—

14 ‘‘(i) any entity that—

15 ‘‘(I) is organized under the laws

16 of the foreign country, or

17 ‘‘(II) has the entity’s principal

18 place of business in the foreign coun19 try;

20 ‘‘(ii) an individual who—

21 ‘‘(I) is a citizen of the foreign

22 country, or

23 ‘‘(II) is domiciled in the foreign

24 country; and
9

HR 4926 EH

1 ‘‘(iii) any person that is, directly or

2 indirectly, under the control of any entity

3 or individual described in clause (i) or

4 (ii).’’.

5 (d) AMENDMENT TO NATIONAL BANK ACT.—Section

6 5155 of the Revised Statutes (12 U.S.C. 36) is amended

7 by adding at the end the following new subsection:

8 ‘‘(i) APPLICATION BY A BANK WHICH IS A PERSON

9 OF A FOREIGN COUNTRY.—In considering any application

10 under this section by any bank which is a person of a for11 eign country (as defined in section 7(j)(19)(B) of the Fed12 eral Deposit Insurance Act), the Comptroller of the Cur13 rency shall take into account whether the Secretary of the

14 Treasury has published a notice, in accordance with sec15 tion 2(c) of the National Treatment in Banking Act of

16 1994, that the possible denial of national treatment to

17 United States banking organizations by such person’s

18 home country identified under section 2(a) of such Act

19 may be having a significant adverse effect on such organi20 zations.’’.

21 (e) AMENDMENT TO FEDERAL DEPOSIT INSURANCE

22 ACT.—Section 18(c) of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act

23 (12 U.S.C. 1828(c)) is amended by adding at the end the

24 following new paragraph:
10

HR 4926 EH

1 ‘‘(12) APPLICATION BY A BANK WHICH IS A

2 PERSON OF A FOREIGN COUNTRY.—In considering

3 any merger transaction under this subsection involv4 ing any bank which is a person of a foreign country

5 (as defined in section 7(j)(19)(B)), the responsible

6 agency shall take into account whether the Secretary

7 of the Treasury has published a notice, in accord8 ance with section 2(c) of the National Treatment in

9 Banking Act of 1994, that the possible denial of na10 tional treatment to United States banking organiza11 tions by such person’s home country identified under

12 section 2(a) of such Act may be having a significant

13 adverse effect on such organizations.’’.

14 (f) AMENDMENT TO FEDERAL RESERVE ACT.—The

15 3d undesignated paragraph of section 9 of the Federal Re16 serve Act (12 U.S.C. 321) is amended in the proviso by

17 inserting ‘‘, including section 5155(i) of the Revised Stat18 utes,’’ after ‘‘limitations and restrictions’’.

19 SEC. 4. CONSISTENCY WITH BILATERAL AND MULTILAT20 ERAL AGREEMENTS.

21 No authority under this Act or any amendment made

22 by this Act to any other law may be used to take any

23 action with respect to a foreign country which is inconsist24 ent with any bilateral or multilateral agreement that gov25 erns financial services in which such country is obligated
11

HR 4926 EH

1 to provide national treatment for United States banking

2 organizations.

Passed the House of Representatives September 30,

1994.

Attest:

Clerk.
103D CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 4926

AN ACT

To require the Secretary of the Treasury to identify

country.foreign banks and other persons of a foreignconsidering certain applications and notices byagencies to take such assessments into account inganizations, and to require Federal bankingbe having a significant adverse effect on such ortions and to assess whether any such denial maytreatment to United States banking organizaforeign countries which may be denying national