Financial Holding Company status

May 2008
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Financial Holding Company status: PwC

At a glance

In this whitepaper, PwC discusses the pros and cons of becoming a financial holding company for a bank.

A company that owns a bank is defined under federal banking law as a Bank Holding Company (BHC). In 1999, Congress amended the law governing BHCs to allow them to engage in a much broader range of activities through nonbank subsidiaries if they elected, with Fed approval, to become a Financial Holding Company (FHC). The current financial crisis is causing many large financial firms to pursue or at least consider becoming FHCs.

Table of Contents

  • What is a Financial Holding Company?
  • Why the sudden interest among large financial organizations in financial holding company status?
  • The process of becoming a FHC
  • What it means to be a FHC for business activities, structure, and strategy
  • Regulatory & supervisory considerations: The control environment
  • Regulatory reporting requirements
  • Compliance risk management
  • How PwC can help