The Securities Industry Association (SIA)* provides comments to the  Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve (Federal Reserve) on an interim rule for financial holding companies (FHCs) to implement provisions under Title I of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLB Act) authorizing bank holding companies and foreign banks that meet certain criteria to become newly created “financial holding companies,” Docket No. R-1057.  SIA’s concerns include: 1) the Board’s exercise of its supervisory authority to restrict financial holding company activities; and 2) the standards required for foreign banks to qualify as financial holding companies. In addition, SIA offers several specific suggestions regarding revisions to particular sections of the rule.

*SIFMA is the product of a merger between the Securities Industry Association (SIA) and The Bond Market Association (TBMA) in 2006.