The case is weak, in our judgment, for umbrella supervision of a holding company which, because it owns only a small bank, does not have material access to the safety net. As I noted when discussing the safety net and bank subsidiaries, attached to all uses of the sovereign credit come efforts by the government to protect the taxpayer.
Those entities interested in banks are really interested in access to the safety net, since it is far easier to engage in the nonsafety net activities of banks without acquiring a bank.