[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 12, Volume 2, Parts 200 to 219]
[Revised as of January 1, 2001]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 12CFR204.134]

[Page 123-124]
 
                       TITLE 12--BANKS AND BANKING
 
                   CHAPTER II--FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM
 
PART 204--RESERVE REQUIREMENTS OF DEPOSITORY INSTITUTIONS (REGULATION D)--Table of Contents
 
Sec. 204.134  Linked time deposits and transaction accounts.

    (a) Authority. Under section 19(a) of the Federal Reserve Act (12 
U.S.C. 461(a)), the Board is authorized to define the terms used in 
section 19, and to prescribe regulations to implement and prevent 
evasions of the requirements of that section. Section 19(b)(2) 
establishes general reserve requirements on transaction accounts and 
nonpersonal time deposits. Under section 19(b)(1)(F), the Board also is 
authorized to determine, by regulation or order, that an account or 
deposit is a transaction account if such account is used directly or 
indirectly for the purpose of making payments to third persons or 
others. This interpretation is adopted under these authorities.
    (b) Linked time deposits and transaction accounts. Some depository 
institutions are offering or proposing to offer account arrangements 
under which a group of participating depositors maintain transaction 
accounts and time deposits with a depository institution in an 
arrangement under which each depositor may draw checks up to the 
aggregate amount held by that depositor in these accounts. Under this 
account arrangement, at the end of the day funds over a specified 
balance in each depositor's transaction account are swept from the 
transaction account into a commingled time deposit. A separate time 
deposit is opened on each business day with the balance of deposits 
received that day, as well as the proceeds of any time deposit that has 
matured that day that are not used to pay checks or withdrawals from the 
transaction accounts. The time deposits, which generally have maturities 
of seven days, are staggered so that one or more time deposits mature 
each business day. Funds are apportioned among the various time deposits 
in a manner calculated to minimize the possibility that the funds 
available on any given day would be insufficient to pay all items 
presented.
    (1) The time deposits involved in such an arrangement may be held 
directly by the depositor or indirectly through a trust or other 
arrangement. The individual depositor's interest in time deposits may be 
identifiable, with an agreement by the depositors that balances held in 
the arrangement may be used to pay checks drawn by other depositors 
participating in the arrangement, or the depositor may have an undivided 
interest in a series of time deposits.
    (2) Each day funds from the maturing time deposits are available to 
pay checks or other charges to the depositor's transaction account. The 
depository institution's decision concerning whether to pay checks drawn 
on an individual depositor's transaction account is based on the 
aggregate amount of funds that the depositor has invested in the 
arrangement, including any amount that may be invested in unmatured time 
deposits. Only if checks drawn by all participants in the arrangement 
exceed the total balance of funds available that day (i.e. funds from 
the time deposit that has matured that day as well as any deposits made 
to participating accounts during the day) is a time deposit withdrawn 
prior to maturity so as to incur an early withdrawal penalty. The 
arrangement may be marketed as providing the customer unlimited access 
to its funds with a high rate of interest.
    (c) Determination. In these arrangements, the aggregate deposit 
balances of all participants generally vary by a comparatively small 
amount, allowing the time deposits maturing on any day safely to cover 
any charges to the depositors' transaction accounts and avoiding any 
early withdrawal penalties. Thus, this arrangement substitutes time 
deposit balances for

[[Page 124]]

transaction accounts balances with no practical restrictions on the 
depositors' access to their funds, and serves no business purpose other 
than to allow the payment of higher interest through the avoidance of 
reserve requirements. As the time deposits may be used to provide funds 
indirectly for the purposes of making payments or transfers to third 
persons, the Board has determined that the time deposits should be 
considered to be transaction accounts for the purposes of Regulation D.

[57 FR 38428, Aug. 25, 1992]