Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 220 / Friday, November 14, 1997 / Notices 61127

FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM

Notice of Proposals To Engage in

Nonbanking Activities or to Acquire

Companies That are Engaged in

Nonbanking Activities

Popular, Inc., Hato Rey, Puerto Rico

(Notificant), has provided notice

pursuant to section 4(c)(8) of the Bank

Holding Company Act, 12 U.S.C. §

1843(c)(8)) (BHC Act), and section

225.24 of the Board’s Regulation Y (12

CFR 225.24), to acquire through its

wholly owned subsidiary, Popular Cash

Express, Inc., Orlando, Florida, certain

assets of Florida Exchange, Ltd., Oak

Park, Illinois, and Mirando-J., Inc., Oak

Park, Illinois, and thereby engage in the

approved and new nonbanking

activities. The approved activities are:

(1) extending credit, servicing loans,

and related activities, pursuant to § 12

C.F.R. 225.28(b)(1) of the Board’s

Regulation Y; (2) leasing personal and

real property, pursuant to § 225.28(b)(3)

of the Board’s Regulation Y; (3)

providing financial and investment

advisory services, pursuant to §

225.28(b)(6) of the Board’s Regulation Y;

(4) providing transactional services,

pursuant to § 225.28(b)(7) of the Board’s

Regulation Y; (5) providing investing

and trading services, pursuant to § 12

C.F.R. 225.28(b)(8)(ii) of the Board’s

Regulation Y; (6) acting as principal,

agent or broker for insurance related to

extensions of credit, pursuant to §

225.28(b)(11)(i) of the Board’s

Regulation Y; (7) acting as agent or

broker for insurance directly related to

an extension of credit as would be sold

by a finance company, pursuant to §

225.28(b)(ii) of the Board’s Regulation

Y; (8) issuing and selling money orders,

savings bonds, and traveler’s checks,

pursuant to § 225.28(b)(13) of the

Board’s Regulation Y. Notificant also

proposes to engage in (1) check cashing

services; (2) accepting bill payments; (3)

accepting or disbursing change in

exchange for currency in a different

denomination; and (4) transmitting or

wiring money on a worldwide basis. See

Midland Bank, PLC, 76 Fed. Res. Bull.

860 (1990); and Norwest Corporation, 81

Fed. Res. Bull. 974 (1995) and 81 Fed.

Res. Bull. 1130 (1995).

In addition, the Notificant proposes to

engage, either alone or as an incident to

other activities, in the following new

nonbanking activities that the Board

previously has not determined are

closely related to banking under section

4(c)(8) of the BHC Act: (1) selling bus

passes, transit tokens, prepaid phone

cards, event and attraction tickets,

prepaid cellular phone time and other

similar forms of alternate media of

value; (2) selling postage stamps and

postage-paid envelopes; (3) providing

mailboxes and related services; (4)

providing notary public services; (5)

providing vehicle registration services

and selling, distributing and renewing

license plates and license tags for motor

vehicles; (6) providing photocopying

and facsimile transmission services; and

(7) entering into arrangements with

automobile clubs to promote

membership in and services of such

clubs. These activities will be

conducted worldwide.

Section 4(c)(8) of the Bank Holding

Company Act provides that a bank

holding company may, with Board

approval, engage in any activity that the

Board, after due notice and opportunity

for hearing, has determined (by order or

regulation) to be so closely related to

banking or managing or controlling

banks as to be a proper incident thereto.

A particular activity may be found to

meet the ‘‘closely related to banking’’

test if it is demonstrated that banks

generally have provided the proposed

activity, that banks generally provide

services that are operationally or

functionally similar to the proposed

activity so as to equip them particularly

well to provide the proposed activity, or

that banks generally provide services

that are so integrally related to the

proposed activity as to require their

provision in a specialized form.

National Courier Ass’n v. Board of

Governors, 516 F.2d 1229, 1237 (D.C.

Cir. 1975). In addition, the Board may

consider any other basis that may

demonstrate that the activity has a

reasonable or close relationship to

banking or managing or controlling

banks. Board Statement Regarding

Regulation Y, 49 FR 794, 806 (1984).

In publishing the proposal for

comment, the Board does not take a

position on issues raised by the

proposal. Notice of the proposal is

published solely to seek the views of

interested persons on this issues

presented by the notice and does not

represent a determination by the Board

that the proposal meets, or is likely to

meet, the standards of the BHC Act. Any

comments or requests for hearing

should be submitted in writing and

received by William W. Wiles,

Secretary, Board of Governors of the

Federal Reserve System, Washington,

D.C. 20551, not later than December 5,

1997. Any request for a hearing on this

notice must, as required by section

262.3(e) of the Board’s Rules of

Procedure (12 CFR 262.3(e)), be

accompanied by a statement of the

reasons why a written presentation

would not suffice in lieu of a hearing,

identifying specifically any questions of

fact that are in dispute, summarizing the

evidence that would be presented at a

hearing, and indicating how the party

commenting would be aggrieved by

approval of the proposal.

This notice may be inspected at the

office of the Board of Governors or the

Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve

System, November 7, 1997.

Jennifer J. Johnson,

Deputy Secretary of the Board.

[FR Doc. 97–29910 Filed 11–13–97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6210–01–F

FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM

Docket No. R–0989

Policy Statement on Payments System

Risk; Modification to the Time Credits

are Posted to Federal Reserve

Accounts for Checks Drawn on Local

Federal Reserve Banks for Purposes of

Measuring Daylight Overdrafts

AGENCY: Board of Governors of the

Federal Reserve System.

ACTION: Policy Statement.

SUMMARY: The Board has modified the

daylight overdraft measurement rules to

accommodate an earlier afternoon

presentment deadline for checks drawn

on local Federal Reserve Banks.

EFFECTIVE DATE: November 14, 1997.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Myriam Payne, Senior Financial

Services Analyst (202/452–3219), or

Stacy Panigay, Financial Services

Analyst (202/452–2934), Division of

Reserve Bank Operations and Payment

Systems; for the hearing impaired only:

Telecommunications Device for the

Deaf, Diane Jenkins (202/452–3544).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

When the Board modified the

Payments System Risk Reduction

policies in 1992 (57 FR 47093, October

14, 1992), it adopted a set of ‘‘posting

rules’’ which comprise a schedule for

the intraday timing of debits and credits

to institutions’ Federal Reserve accounts

for different types of payments. With the

implementation of these rules along

with the imposition of fees for daylight

overdrafts, the Board was interested in

inducing behavioral changes to control

risk and increase efficiency in the

payments system. Under the daylight

overdraft measurement rules that

became effective on October 14, 1993,

depository institutions that deposit in

separately sorted cash letters Checks

Drawn on Local Federal Reserve Banks