[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 12, Volume 2]
[Revised as of January 1, 2003]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 12CFR206.3]

[Page 194]
 
                       TITLE 12--BANKS AND BANKING
 
                   CHAPTER II--FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM
 
PART 206--LIMITATIONS ON INTERBANK LIABILITIES (REGULATION F)--Table of Contents
 
Sec. 206.3  Prudential standards.

    (a) General. A bank shall establish and maintain written policies 
and procedures to prevent excessive exposure to any individual 
correspondent in relation to the condition of the correspondent.
    (b) Standards for selecting correspondents. (1) A bank shall 
establish policies and procedures that take into account credit and 
liquidity risks, including operational risks, in selecting 
correspondents and terminating those relationships.
    (2) Where exposure to a correspondent is significant, the policies 
and procedures shall require periodic reviews of the financial condition 
of the correspondent and shall take into account any deterioration in 
the correspondent's financial condition. Factors bearing on the 
financial condition of the correspondent include the capital level of 
the correspondent, level of nonaccrual and past due loans and leases, 
level of earnings, and other factors affecting the financial condition 
of the correspondent. Where public information on the financial 
condition of the correspondent is available, a bank may base its review 
of the financial condition of a correspondent on such information, and 
is not required to obtain non-public information for its review. 
However, for those foreign banks for which there is no public source of 
financial information, a bank will be required to obtain information for 
its review.
    (3) A bank may rely on another party, such as a bank rating agency 
or the bank's holding company, to assess the financial condition of or 
select a correspondent, provided that the bank's board of directors has 
reviewed and approved the general assessment or selection criteria used 
by that party.
    (c) Internal limits on exposure. (1) Where the financial condition 
of the correspondent and the form of maturity of the exposure create a 
significant risk that payments will not be made in full or in a timely 
manner, a bank's policies and procedures shall limit the bank's exposure 
to the correspondent, either by the establishment of internal limits or 
by other means. Limits shall be consistent with the risk undertaken, 
considering the financial condition and the form and maturity of 
exposure to the correspondent. Limits may be fixed as to amount of 
flexible, based on such factors as the monitoring of exposure and the 
financial condition of the correspondent. Different limits may be set 
for different forms of exposure, different products, and different 
maturities.
    (2) A bank shall structure transactions with a correspondent or 
monitor exposure to a correspondent, directly or through another party, 
to ensure that its exposure ordinarily does not exceed the bank's 
internal limits, including limits established for credit exposure, 
except for occasional excesses resulting from unusual market 
disturbances, market movements favorable to the bank, increases in 
activity, operational problems, or other unusual circumstances. 
Generally, monitoring may be done on a retrospective basis. The level of 
monitoring required depends on:
    (i) The extent to which exposure approaches the bank's internal 
limits;
    (ii) The volatility of the exposure; and
    (iii) The financial condition of the correspondent.
    (3) A bank shall establish appropriate procedures to address 
excesses over its internal limits.
    (d) Review by board of directors. The policies and procedures 
established under this section shall be reviewed and approved by the 
bank's board of directors at least annually.