HR 4789 — FAIR Act

(a) Establishment of applicable definitions, payment of interest, obligations as deposits, and regulations The Board is authorized for the purposes of this section 1 to define the terms used in this section,1 to determine what shall be deemed a payment of interest, to determine what types of obligations, whether issued directly by a member bank or indirectly by an affiliate of a member bank or by other means, and, regardless of the use of the proceeds, shall be deemed a deposit, and to prescribe such regulations as it may deem necessary to effectuate the purposes of this section 1 and to prevent evasions thereof. (b) Additional definitions; required amounts of reserves maintained against transaction accounts; waiver of ratio limits in extraordinary circumstances; supplemental reserves; reserves related to foreign obligations or assets; exemption for certain deposits; discount and borrowing; transitional adjustments; additional exemptions and waivers; earnings on balances (1) The following definitions and rules apply to this subsection, subsection (c), and sections 248–1, 248a, 342, 360, and 412 of this title: (A) The term “depository institution” means— (i) any insured bank as defined in section 3 of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act [12 U.S.C. 1813] or any bank which is eligible to make application to become an insured bank under section 5 of such Act [12 U.S.C. 1815]; (ii) any mutual savings bank as defined in section 3 of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act or any bank which is eligible to make application to become an insured bank under section 5 of such Act; (iii) any savings bank as defined in section 3 of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act or any bank which is eligible to make application to become an insured bank under section 5 of such Act; (iv) any insured credit union as defined in section 1752 of this title or any credit union which is eligible to make application to become an insured credit union pursuant to section 1781 of this title; (v) any member as defined in section 1422 of this title; (vi) any savings association (as defined in section 3 of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act [12 U.S.C. 1813]) which is an insured depository institution (as defined in such Act [12 U.S.C. 1811 et seq.]) or is eligible to apply to become an insured depository institution under the Federal Deposit Insurance Act; and (vii) for the purpose of sections 248–1, 342 to 347, 347c, 347d, and 372 of this title, any association or entity which is wholly owned by or which consists only of institutions referred to in clauses (i) through (vi). (B) The term “bank” means any insured or noninsured bank, as defined in section 3 of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act [12 U.S.C. 1813], other than a mutual savings bank or a savings bank as defined in such section. (C) The term “transaction account” means a deposit or account on which the depositor or account holder is permitted to make withdrawals by negotiable or transferable instrument, payment orders of withdrawal, telephone transfers, or other similar items for the purpose of making payments or transfers to third persons or others. Such term includes demand deposits, negotiable order of withdrawal accounts, savings deposits subject to automatic transfers, and share draft accounts. (D) The term “nonpersonal time deposits” means a transferable time deposit or account or a time deposit or account representing funds deposited to the credit of, or in which any beneficial interest is held by, a depositor who is not a natural person. (E) The term “reservable liabilities” means transaction accounts, nonpersonal time deposits, and all net balances, loans, assets, and obligations which are, or may be, subject to reserve requirements under paragraph (5). (F) In order to prevent evasions of the reserve requirements imposed by this subsection, after consultation with the Board of Directors of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Comptroller of the Currency, and the National Credit Union Administratio...