Restore Board’s authority to determine that new activities are “closely related to banking” and permissible for all bank holding companies  Amendment would restore the Board’s ability to determine that nonbanking activities are “closely related to banking” under section 4(c)(8) of the BHC Act and, thus, permissible for all bank holding companies, including those that have not elected to become financial holding companies.
Bank holding companies would still have to become a financial holding company to engage in the types of expanded activities authorized by the GLB Act - including full-scope securities underwriting, insurance underwriting, and merchant banking activities - as well as any new activities that the Board determines are financial in nature or incidental or complementary to financial activities under the GLB Act.