225
(c) CONSIDERATION OF EXISTING DISCLOSURES.—
In prescribing rules and revisions under subsection (a),
the Federal financial regulatory authorities shall consider
the sufficiency and appropriateness of then existing laws
and rules applicable to persons subject to their jurisdic-
tion, and may prescribe exemptions from the rules and re-
visions required by subsection (a) to the extent appro-
priate in light of the objective of this section to increase
the consistency of disclosure practices.
(d) ENFORCEMENT.—Any rule prescribed by a Fed-
eral financial regulatory authority pursuant to this section
shall, for purposes of enforcement, be treated as a rule
prescribed by such regulatory authority pursuant to the
statute establishing such regulatory authority’s jurisdic-
tion over the persons to whom such rule applies.
(e) DEFINITION.—As used in this section, the term
‘‘Federal financial regulatory authority’’ means the Board
of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Securi-
ties and Exchange Commission, the Comptroller of the
Currency, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the
Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and any self-
regulatory organization under the supervision of any of
the foregoing.
226
TITLE III—INSURANCE
Subtitle A—State Regulation of
Insurance
SEC. 301. STATE REGULATION OF THE BUSINESS OF INSUR-
ANCE.
The Act entitled ‘‘An Act to express the intent of the
Congress with reference to the regulation of the business
of insurance’’ and approved March 9, 1945 (15 U.S.C.
1011 et seq.), commonly referred to as the ‘‘McCarran-
Ferguson Act’’) remains the law of the United States.
SEC. 302. MANDATORY INSURANCE LICENSING REQUIRE-
MENTS.
No person or entity shall provide insurance in a State
as principal or agent unless such person or entity is li-
censed as required by the appropriate insurance regulator
of such State in accordance with the relevant State insur-
ance law, subject to section 104 of this Act.
SEC. 303. FUNCTIONAL REGULATION OF INSURANCE.
The insurance sales activity of any person or entity
shall be functionally regulated by the States, subject to
section 104 of this Act.
SEC.
304.
INSURANCE
UNDERWRITING
IN
NATIONAL
BANKS.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in section 306,
a national bank and the subsidiaries of a national bank
227
may not provide insurance in a State as principal except
that this prohibition shall not apply to authorized prod-
ucts.
(b) AUTHORIZED PRODUCTS.—For the purposes of
this section, a product is authorized if—
(1) as of January 1, 1997, the Comptroller of
the Currency had determined in writing that na-
tional banks may provide such product as principal,
or national banks were in fact lawfully providing
such product as principal;
(2) no court of relevant jurisdiction had, by
final judgment, overturned a determination of the
Comptroller of the Currency that national banks
may provide such product as principal; and
(3) the product is not title insurance, or an an-
nuity contract the income of which is subject to tax
treatment under section 72 of the Internal Revenue
Code of 1986.
(c) DEFINITION.—For purposes of this section, the
term ‘‘insurance’’ means—
(1) any product regulated as insurance as of
January 1, 1997, in accordance with the relevant
State insurance law, in the State in which the prod-
uct is provided;
228
(2) any product first offered after January 1,
1997, which—
(A) a State insurance regulator determines
shall be regulated as insurance in the State in
which the product is provided because the prod-
uct insures, guarantees, or indemnifies against
liability, loss of life, loss of health, or loss
through damage to or destruction of property,
including, but not limited to, surety bonds, life
insurance, health insurance, title insurance, and
property and casualty insurance (such as pri-
vate
passenger
or
commercial
automobile,
homeowners, mortgage, commercial multiperil,
general liability, professional liability, workers’
compensation, fire and allied lines, farm owners
multiperil,
aircraft,
fidelity,
surety,
medical
malpractice, ocean marine, inland marine, and
boiler and machinery insurance); and
(B) is not a product or service of a bank
that is—
(i) a deposit product;
(ii) a loan, discount, letter of credit,
or other extension of credit;
(iii) a trust or other fiduciary service;
229
(iv) a qualified financial contract (as
defined in or determined pursuant to sec-
tion 11(e)(8)(D)(i) of the Federal Deposit
Insurance Act); or
(v) a financial guaranty, except that
this subparagraph (B) shall not apply to a
product that includes an insurance compo-
nent such that if the product is offered or
proposed to be offered by the bank as prin-
cipal—
(I) it would be treated as a life
insurance contract under section 7702
of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986,
as amended; or
(II) in the event that the product
is not a letter of credit or other simi-
lar extension of credit, a qualified fi-
nancial contract, or a financial guar-
anty, it would qualify for treatment
for losses incurred with respect to
such product under section 832(b)(5)
of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986,
as amended, if the bank were subject
to tax as an insurance company under
section 831 of such Code; or
230
(3) any annuity contract the income on which
is subject to tax treatment under section 72 of the
Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended.
SEC. 305. NEW BANK AGENCY ACTIVITIES ONLY THROUGH
ACQUISITION
OF
EXISTING
LICENSED
AGENTS.
If a national bank or a subsidiary of a national bank
is not providing insurance as agent in a State as of the
date of the enactment of this Act, the national bank and
the subsidiary of the national bank may provide insurance
(which such bank or subsidiary is otherwise authorized to
provide) as agent in such State after such date only by
acquiring a company which has been licensed by the ap-
propriate State regulator to provide insurance as agent in
such State for not less than 2 years before such acquisi-
tion. This section shall cease to have effect 5 years after
the date of the enactment of this Act.
SEC.
306.
TITLE
INSURANCE
ACTIVITIES
OF
NATIONAL
BANKS AND THEIR AFFILIATES.
(a) AUTHORITY.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other
provision of this Act or any other law, no national
bank, and no subsidiary of a national bank, may en-
gage in any activity involving the underwriting or
sale of title insurance other than title insurance ac-