OCC 99-48  
OCC BULLETIN

Subject:      Bank Activities and Operations, Investment 
              Securities, Corporate Activities
Description:  Final Rule

Date:  December 22, 1999

TO:    Chief Executive Officers of all National Banks, Department
       and Division Heads, and all Examining Personnel


The attached final rule was published in the Federal Register on
November 4, 1999.  The final rule became effective on December 6,
1999.

The final rule updates and clarifies the OCC's regulations
regarding Bank Activities and Operations (formerly, Interpretive
Rulings) (12 CFR Part 7), Investment Securities (12 CFR Part 1),
and Rules, Policies, and Procedures for Corporate Activities (12
CFR Part 5).  Most of the changes in the attached final rule
amend Part 7.  These amendments clarify certain existing rules
and add new rules based on recent statutory changes, judicial
rulings, OCC decisions, and other developments.  Two of the
amendments to Part 7, relating to the acquisition by a bank of
its shares and to its ability to engage in reverse stock splits,
will facilitate the election of Subchapter S status.  Community
banks in particular may benefit from these provisions.  Several
other provisions make clear that automated teller machines,
automated loan machines, and deposit production offices are not
"branches," whether a bank establishes them alone or in
combination with each other.  The final rule also clarifies the
scope of the OCC's "visitorial" powers over national banks to
reflect long-standing judicial precedents defining visitorial
powers.

The remaining changes remove an ambiguous provision in Part 1 and
make technical amendments to Part 5 to update references to the
Comptroller's Corporate Manual and to reflect that the "CAMELS"
rating system has been amended to include "sensitivity to market
risk" in the Uniform Financial Institutions Rating System.

For further information, contact Jacqueline Lussier, senior
attorney, or Mark Tenhundfeld, assistant director, Legislative
and Regulatory Activities Division, at (202) 874-5090.


_____________________________________
Julie L. Williams
First Senior Deputy Comptroller and Chief Counsel


Attachment: 64 FR 60092

         [http://www.occ.treas.gov/fr/fedregister/64fr60092.pdf]