Interpretations and Actions: September 2003

Vol. 16, No. 9

Interpretive Letters

Letter No.	Topic
971	Letter explains OCC supervision of operating subsidiaries of national banks and the applicability of state law to operating subsidiaries. 01/16/2003
972	Letter explains that OCC examination reports are confidential and privileged under the bank examination privilege, and that a party seeking to use them in litigation must submit a request under 12 CFR 4.31 before invoking the assistance of a federal court. 08/12/2003
973	Letter deals with Federal trust powers of a national bank determines that (i) a national bank's trust powers are governed by Federal law and derive from 12 USC 92a and Part 9 of the OCC's regulations; (ii) a national bank looks to the law of the state in which it acts in a fiduciary capacity in order to determine which capacities are permissible for the bank to act in for customers in that state as well as other states; and (iii) a state's authority to regulate instrumentalities of its own government (for example, by enacting state laws restricting the types of trustees, or other fiduciaries, those state government may appoint) does not affect the fiduciary authorities granted to national banks as a matter of Federal law. 08/12/2003
974	Letter states that operating subsidiaries may export interest rates under 12 U.S.C. 85 to the same extent as parent bank. 07/21/2003

CRA Decisions

Letter No.	Topic
116	Application by Trustmark National Bank, Jackson, Mississippi, to purchase certain assets and assume certain liabilities of The Bank, Warrior, Alabama. (Control Number 2003 SE 02 0014), 08/12/2003

Approvals with Conditions Enforceable under 12 U.S.C. 1818

Letter No.	Topic
602	Application by World Financial Network National Bank, Gahanna, Ohio, to purchase the credit card accounts of Granite National Bank, Bowling Green, Ohio. (Control Number 2003 MW 02 0007), 08/08/2003
603	Request from FBR National Bank & Trust, Bethesda, Maryland, to implement a material deviation from the operating plan and limit its operations solely to fiduciary activities by divesting of its non-fiduciary assets and deposit liabilities, thereby operating as a limited purpose national trust bank. (Control Number 2003 NE 12 0160), 08/07/2003

Final Enforcement Actions

Enclosed is a copy of the OCC's news release number 2003-73 , announcing the availability of enforcement actions. Copies of the final actions are available by writing to the OCC, Public Reference Room, Mailstop 1-5, Washington, D.C. 20219. When ordering, specify the appropriate enforcement action number.

Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) Performance Evaluations

Enclosed is a list of CRA performance evaluations that became public during the period of August 15, 2003 through September 14, 2003.

PLEASE NOTE: Interpretive Letters and No-Objection Letters reflect the views of the Comptroller's legal staff. Corporate Decisions, CRA Decisions and Conditional Approvals are from the Licensing department. The list of CRA Ratings is from the Communications Division. For copies of the CRA evaluations, you may either contact the bank directly, or you may write to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) in any of three ways: by mail to the OCC, Attn: Public Information Room, Mail Stop 1-5, Washington, D.C. 20219; by fax to (202) 874-4448; or by email to FOIA-PA@occ.treas.gov. You may also write to the OCC for copies of enforcement actions and charters with standard conditions.

Members of the news media are encouraged to cite the letter number when reporting or summarizing documents from this package. This helps us to process single requests based upon your citation in a more timely manner.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency publishes INTERPRETATIONS AND ACTIONS monthly. Subscriptions are available at a rate of $175 per year by writing to the Comptroller of the Currency, ATTN: Accounts Receivable, Mailstop 4-8, 250 E Street, S.W., Washington, DC 20219. Prepayment is requested. Suggestions, comments or questions may be sent to Jacqueline J. England, Communications Division, Comptroller of the Currency, Mail Stop 3-2, Washington, DC 20219.