Volcker Rule Relief Act of 2105

Volcker Rule Relief Act of 2015

This bill amends the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956 with respect to the prohibition ("Volcker Rule") against a banking entity's: (1) engaging in proprietary trading; or (2) acquiring or retaining any equity, partnership, or other ownership interest in, or sponsoring, hedge funds or private equity funds.

"Banking entity" shall not include (and so the Volcker Rule shall not apply to) any entity that:

• is not predominantly engaged in financial activities, nor is a bank holding company or a nonbank financial company supervised by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, nor a direct or indirect subsidiary of a bank holding company or a nonbank financial company supervised by the Board; or
• would be a banking entity solely owing to its control of such an entity.

The bill also exempts from the Volcker Rule any banking entity with total consolidated assets of $10 billion or less.

[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4049 Introduced in House (IH)]

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114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 4049

  To amend the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956 to exempt certain non-
 financial companies and smaller banking entities from the application 
                          of the Volcker Rule.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           November 17, 2015

 Mrs. Love (for herself, Mr. Neugebauer, and Mr. Huizenga of Michigan) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                           Financial Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956 to exempt certain non-
 financial companies and smaller banking entities from the application 
                          of the Volcker Rule.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Volcker Rule Relief Act of 2105''.

SEC. 2. TREATMENT OF CERTAIN NON-FINANCIAL COMPANIES.

    Section 13(h)(1) of the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956 (12 U.S.C. 
1851(h)(1)) is amended--
            (1) in subparagraph (D), by redesignating clauses (i) and 
        (ii) as subclauses (I) and (II), respectively, and moving such 
        subclauses 2 ems to the right;
            (2) by redesignating subparagraphs (A), (B), (C), and (D) 
        as clauses (i), (ii), (iii), and (iv), respectively, and moving 
        such clauses 2 ems to the right;
            (3) by striking ``The term'' and inserting the following:
                    ``(A) In general.--The term''; and
            (4) by adding at the end the following:
                    ``(B) Certain non-financial companies.--
                Notwithstanding subparagraph (A), the term `banking 
                entity' does not include any entity that--
                            ``(i)(I) is not predominantly engaged in 
                        financial activities, as defined under section 
                        102 of the Financial Stability Act of 2010 (12 
                        U.S.C. 5311);
                            ``(II) is not a bank holding company or a 
                        nonbank financial company supervised by the 
                        Board; and
                            ``(III) is not a direct or indirect 
                        subsidiary of a bank holding company or a 
                        nonbank financial company supervised by the 
                        Board; or
                            ``(ii) would be a banking entity solely due 
                        to its control of an entity described under 
                        clause (i).''.

SEC. 3. EXEMPTION FOR SMALLER BANKING ENTITIES.

    Section 13 of the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956 (12 U.S.C. 1851) 
is amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(i) Exemption for Smaller Banking Entities.--This section shall 
not apply to a banking entity with total consolidated assets of 
$10,000,000,000 or less.''.
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