[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: 12CFR208.83]

[Page 253-254]
 
                       TITLE 12--BANKS AND BANKING
 
                   CHAPTER II--FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM
 
PART 208--MEMBERSHIP OF STATE BANKING INSTITUTIONS IN THE FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM (REGULATION H)--Table of Contents
 
          Subpart H--Consumer Protection in Sales of Insurance
 
Sec. 208.83  Prohibited practices.

    (a) Anticoercion and antitying rules. You may not engage in any 
practice that would lead a consumer to believe that an extension of 
credit, in violation of section 106(b) of the Bank Holding Company Act 
Amendments of 1970 (12 U.S.C. 1972), is conditional upon either:
    (1) The purchase of an insurance product or annuity from the bank or 
any of its affiliates; or
    (2) An agreement by the consumer not to obtain, or a prohibition on 
the consumer from obtaining, an insurance product or annuity from an 
unaffiliated entity.
    (b) Prohibition on misrepresentations generally. You may not engage 
in any practice or use any advertisement at any office of, or on behalf 
of, the bank or a subsidiary of the bank that could mislead any person 
or otherwise cause a reasonable person to reach an erroneous belief with 
respect to:

[[Page 254]]

    (1) The fact that an insurance product or annuity sold or offered 
for sale by you or any subsidiary of the bank is not backed by the 
Federal government or the bank or the fact that the insurance product or 
annuity is not insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation;
    (2) In the case of an insurance product or annuity that involves 
investment risk, the fact that there is an investment risk, including 
the potential that principal may be lost and that the product may 
decline in value; or
    (3) In the case of a bank or subsidiary of the bank at which 
insurance products or annuities are sold or offered for sale, the fact 
that:
    (i) The approval of an extension of credit to a consumer by the bank 
or subsidiary may not be conditioned on the purchase of an insurance 
product or annuity by the consumer from the bank or a subsidiary of the 
bank; and
    (ii) The consumer is free to purchase the insurance product or 
annuity from another source.
    (c) Prohibition on domestic violence discrimination. You may not 
sell or offer for sale, as principal, agent, or broker, any life or 
health insurance product if the status of the applicant or insured as a 
victim of domestic violence or as a provider of services to victims of 
domestic violence is considered as a criterion in any decision with 
regard to insurance underwriting, pricing, renewal, or scope of coverage 
of such product, or with regard to the payment of insurance claims on 
such product, except as required or expressly permitted under State law.