8870 Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 32 / Friday, February 15, 2008 / Notices 

1Section 18(c) of the Federal Deposit Insurance 

Act, 12 U.S.C. 1828(c). 2Pub. L. 109–171, 120 Stat. 9 (Feb. 8, 2006). 3The FDIC’s Statement of Policy on Bank Merger 

Transactions was published in the Federal Register 

at 63 FR 44761 on August 20, 1998; subsequent 

amendments were published at 67 FR 48178 on July 

23, 2002 and at 67 FR 79278 on December 27, 2002. 

Revision of FR Notice Published on 

01/25/2008: Correction to Lead 

Agency from FAA to FTA. 

EIS No. 20080040, Draft EIS, IBR, CA, 

Folsam Lake State Recreation Area & 

Folsam Powerhouse State Historic 

Park, General Plan/Resource 

Management Plan, Implementation, 

Placer County, CA, Comment Period 

Ends: 03/24/2008, Contact: Laura 

Cabollero 916–989–7172. Revision to 

FR Notice Published 02/08/2008: 

Correction to the County and State. 

Dated: February 12, 2008. 

Robert W. Hargrove, 

Director, NEPA Compliance Division, Office 

of Federal Activities. 

[FR Doc. E8–2951 Filed 2–14–08; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6560–50–P 

EXPORT-IMPORT BANK OF THE 

UNITED STATES 

Notice of Open Special Meeting of the 

advisory Committee of the ExportImport Bank of the United States (ExIm Bank). 

SUMMARY: The advisory committee was 

established by Public Law 98–181, 

November 30, 1983, to advise the 

Export-Import Bank on its programs and 

to provide comments for inclusion in 

the reports of the Export-Import Bank of 

the United States to Congress 

Time and Place: Wednesday, March 5, 

2008 from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. The meeting 

will be held at Ex-Im Bank in the Main 

Conference Room 1143, 811 Vermont 

Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20571. 

Agenda: Agenda items include an 

understanding of the ECA environment 

and the factors to consider when 

designing credit underwriting processes 

and programs. 

Public Participation: The meeting will 

be open to public participation, and the 

last 10 minutes will be set aside for oral 

questions or comments. Members of the 

public may also file written statement(s) 

before or after the meeting. If you plan 

to attend, a photo ID must be presented 

at the guard’s desk as part of the 

clearance process into the building, and 

you may contact Susan Houser to be 

placed on an attendee list. If any person 

wishes auxiliary aids (such as a sign 

language interpreter) or other special 

accommodations, please contact, prior 

to February 25, 2008, Susan Houser, 

Rom 1273, 811 Vermont Avenue, NW., 

Washington, DC 20571, Voice: (202) 

565–3232 or TDD (202) 565-3377. 

Further Information: For further 

information, contact Susan Houser, 

Room 1273, 811 Vermont Ave., NW., 

Washington, DC 20571, (202) 565–3232. 

Howard A. Schweitzer, 

General Counsel. 

[FR Doc. 08–681 Filed 2–14–08; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6690–01–M 

FEDERAL DEPOSIT INSURANCE 

CORPORATION 

Statement of Policy on Bank Merger 

Transactions 

AGENCY: Federal Deposit Insurance 

Corporation (‘‘FDIC’’). 

ACTION: Amendment of statement of 

policy. 

SUMMARY: The FDIC is amending its 

Statement of Policy on Bank Merger 

Transactions (‘‘Statement of Policy’’) in 

order to conform it to the Bank Merger 

Act, as amended by the Financial 

Services Regulatory Relief Act of 2006 

(‘‘FSRRA’’). The FSRRA (i) eliminated 

the need for the FDIC to obtain a 

competitive factors report from the other 

three Federal banking agencies in 

processing a merger application and (ii) 

eliminated both the post-approval 

waiting period and the need to obtain 

any competitive factors reports, when 

the merger solely involves an insured 

depository institution and one or more 

affiliates. In addition, the FDIC is 

amending its Statement of Policy in 

order to remove any discussion of 

‘‘Oakar Transactions’’ since the Federal 

Deposit Insurance Reform Act of 2005 

consolidated the former Savings 

Association Insurance Fund (‘‘SAIF’’) 

and the former Bank Insurance Fund 

(‘‘BIF’’) into the Deposit Insurance 

Fund. Finally, the FDIC is amending its 

Statement of Policy in order to conform 

the description of the factors to be 

considered in evaluating a merger more 

closely to the language of the Bank 

Merger Act, and for other technical 

reasons. 

DATES: February 15, 2008. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Brett A. McCallister, Review Examiner 

(816) 234–8099 x4223, in the Division of 

Supervision and Consumer Protection; 

Julia E. Paris, Senior Attorney (202) 

898–3821 or Robert C. Fick, Counsel, 

(202) 898–8962, in the Legal Division. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Background 

On October 13, 2006, the President 

signed into law the FSRRA, Public Law 

No. 109–351. The stated purpose of the 

law is to reduce regulatory burden and 

improve productivity for insured 

depository institutions. Many of the 

provisions of this law amended statutes 

that the FDIC administers. One of those 

statutes is the Bank Merger Act.1 In 

addition, the Federal Deposit Insurance 

Reform Act of 2005 (‘‘FDIRA’’) 2

consolidated the SAIF and the BIF into 

the Deposit Insurance Fund. As a result, 

the FDIC is amending its Statement of 

Policy 3 to conform it to the Bank 

Merger Act, as amended by FSRRA, and 

to the changes made by FDIRA. The 

FDIC is not seeking comment on the 

amendments that it is making to the 

Statement of Policy, and the 

amendments are effective upon 

publication in the Federal Register. 

II. FSRRA Amendments to the Bank 

Merger Act 

A. Section 606 of FSRRA 

Four Federal banking agencies must 

utilize the Bank Merger Act to approve 

merger transactions subject to their 

respective jurisdiction; those agencies 

are the FDIC, the Federal Reserve Board 

(‘‘FRB’’), the Office of the Comptroller of 

the Currency (‘‘OCC’’), and the Office of 

Thrift Supervision (‘‘OTS’’). Prior to 

FSRRA, the Federal banking agency 

responsible for processing a particular 

merger application had to request and 

obtain a competitive factors report from 

each of the other three Federal banking 

agencies. Section 606 of FSRRA 

amended section 18(c)(4) of the Federal 

Deposit Insurance Act (‘‘FDI Act’’), 12 

U.S.C. 1828(c)(4), to eliminate that 

requirement. Section 606 did not, 

however, eliminate the requirement that 

the responsible agency obtain a 

competitive factors report from the 

Attorney General of the United States; 

that requirement remains unchanged. In 

addition, section 606 also added the 

requirement that in processing a merger 

application, the FRB, the OCC, or the 

OTS, as the case may be, must submit 

a copy of each request for a competitive 

factors report to the FDIC. 

Section 606 also made two changes to 

the Bank Merger Act that apply to 

mergers that solely involve an insured 

depository institution and one or more 

affiliates (‘‘Affiliate Mergers’’). First, for 

Affiliate Mergers, section 606 amended 

section 18(c)(4) of the FDI Act, 12 U.S.C. 

1828(c)(4), to eliminate the need for the 

responsible Federal banking agency to 

request competitive factors reports from 

either the other Federal banking 

agencies or the Attorney General of the 


rwilkins on PROD1PC63 with NOTICES