Regulatory Roundup: IMPORTANT, NOT IMMINENT

BANK POWERS: The OCC has shelved its proposal to let national banks conduct new activities through subsidiaries. Currently, nonbank products and services are offered through holding company subsidiaries, not bank units. The plan was proposed last November; comments were due in late January. The agency's approach counters several bills pending on Capitol Hill to repeal the Glass-Steagall Act and require banks to conduct securities activities in holding company subsidiaries.

RECOURSE II: The agencies are trying to decide how much capital banks should have to hold against assets sold with recourse. A two-tiered proposal was issued for comment in May 1994. Comments were due last July. Though the agencies regularly discuss the issue, no consensus has developed.

PREMIUM BASE: The FDIC has taken the first step - an advance notice of proposed rulemaking - toward changing the way it calculates how much institutions should pay for deposit insurance.

The proposal seeks ideas for adding other liabilities to the domestic deposits that now make up the assessment base or for converting the base to assets. Narrower changes that have been suggested include eliminating the current float and measuring domestic deposits by quarterly average.

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