[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 12, Volume 3]
[Revised as of January 1, 2003]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 12CFR228.11]

[Page 501-502]
 
                       TITLE 12--BANKS AND BANKING
 
                   CHAPTER II--FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM
 
PART 228--COMMUNITY REINVESTMENT (REGULATION BB)--Table of Contents
 
                           Subpart A--General
 
Sec. 228.11  Authority, purposes, and scope.

    Source: Reg. BB, 60 FR 22190, May 4, 1995, unless otherwise noted.


    (a) Authority. The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System 
(the Board) issues this part to implement the Community Reinvestment Act 
(12 U.S.C. 2901 et seq.) (CRA). The regulations comprising this part are 
issued under the authority of the CRA and under the provisions of the 
United States Code authorizing the Board:
    (1) To conduct examinations of State-chartered banks that are 
members of the Federal Reserve System (12 U.S.C. 325);
    (2) To conduct examinations of bank holding companies and their 
subsidiaries (12 U.S.C. 1844); and
    (3) To consider applications for:
    (i) Domestic branches by State member banks (12 U.S.C. 321);
    (ii) Mergers in which the resulting bank would be a State member 
bank (12 U.S.C. 1828(c));
    (iii) Formations of, acquisitions of banks by, and mergers of, bank 
holding companies (12 U.S.C. 1842); and
    (iv) The acquisition of savings associations by bank holding 
companies (12 U.S.C. 1843).
    (b) Purposes. In enacting the CRA, the Congress required each 
appropriate Federal financial supervisory agency to assess an 
institution's record of helping to meet the credit needs of the local 
communities in which the institution is chartered, consistent with the 
safe and sound operation of the institution, and to take this record 
into account in the agency's evaluation of an application for a deposit 
facility by the institution. This part is intended to carry out the 
purposes of the CRA by:
    (1) Establishing the framework and criteria by which the Board 
assesses a bank's record of helping to meet the credit needs of its 
entire community, including low- and moderate-income neighborhoods, 
consistent with the safe and sound operation of the bank; and
    (2) Providing that the Board takes that record into account in 
considering certain applications.
    (c) Scope--(1) General. This part applies to all banks except as 
provided in paragraph (c)(3) of this section.
    (2) Foreign bank acquisitions. This part also applies to an 
uninsured State branch (other than a limited branch) of a foreign bank 
that results from an acquisition described in section 5(a)(8) of the 
International Banking Act of 1978 (12 U.S.C. 3103(a)(8)). The terms 
``State branch'' and ``foreign bank'' have the same meanings as in 
section 1(b) of the International Banking Act of 1978 (12 U.S.C. 3101 et 
seq.); the term ``uninsured State branch'' means a State branch the 
deposits of which are not insured

[[Page 502]]

by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation; the term ``limited 
branch'' means a State branch that accepts only deposits that are 
permissible for a corporation organized under section 25A of the Federal 
Reserve Act (12 U.S.C. 611 et seq.).
    (3) Certain special purpose banks. This part does not apply to 
special purpose banks that do not perform commercial or retail banking 
services by granting credit to the public in the ordinary course of 
business, other than as incident to their specialized operations. These 
banks include banker's banks, as defined in 12 U.S.C. 24 (Seventh), and 
banks that engage only in one or more of the following activities: 
providing cash management controlled disbursement services or serving as 
correspondent banks, trust companies, or clearing agents.