Capital; Leverage and Risk-Based Capital Guidelines; Capital Adequacy Guidelines; Capital Maintenance: Nonfinancial Equity Investments

The OCC, Board and FDIC (collectively, the agencies) are amending their capital guidelines to establish special minimum capital requirements for equity investments in nonfinancial companies. The new capital requirements, which will apply symmetrically to equity investments of banks and bank holding companies, impose a series of marginal capital charges on covered equity investments that increase with the level of a banking organization's overall exposure to equity investments relative to the organization's Tier 1 capital. The final rule is substantially similar to the proposal that the agencies published for comment in February 2001.