U.S. SENATE, Washington, D.C., August 8, 1974. HON ARTHUR F. BURNS, Washington, D.C. DEAR CHAIRMAN BURNS: Bank holding companies subject to your regulation are required to file Form Y-6 with the Federal Reserve System. One of its reporting requirements-2 (f)—obligates the company to list the other business connnections of the company's directors, trustees, partners and principal officers. My staff has reviewed some of the reports filed from one state-Texas-this year. The initial review indicates that several bank holdings companies-Republic National, First International Bank Shares, First City Bancorporation and Fort Worth National-responded adequately. However, Southwest Bancshares of Houston apparently construed the reporting requirement to obviate the need for reporting other business connections unless the bank official held a five per cent interest in each other company. Similarly, Texas Commerce Bancshares lists only interests involving holdings of 4% or more, without listing the other business connections of its officials. And Merchantile National Bank does not list a single other business connection of its officers and directors. Please advise the Subcommittee as to why these banks did not furnish the other business affiliations of their officers and directors on the Form Y-6, and what action has been, or is being taken to attain such information which is required by your regulations. Very truly yours, LEE METCALF. INFORMATION ON BANK HOLDING COMPANIES FAILING TO SUPPLY INFORMATION REGARDING INTERLOCKS CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD OF GOVERNORS, Hon. LEE METCALF, FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM, Washington, D.C., September 10, 1974. Chairman, Subcommittee on Budgeting, Management and Expenditures, Committee on Government Operations, U.S. Senate, Washington, D.C. DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: On August 23, 1974, I acknowledged your letter of August 8, 1974, inquiring about annual reports filed by a number of Texas-based bank holding companies and I promised to contact you again after the Board's staff had had time to explore this matter more fully. Your letter noted that in reviewing the annual reports of several bank holding companies your staff found three companies which had filed apparently incomplete answers to one of the questions on the form. You asked why the particular information was not provided by the three holding companies, and what action has been, or is being, taken to remedy the deficiency in the reports. Each year some 1,600 bank holding companies file a comprehensive annual report with the Federal Reserve System on a prescribed form (Form F.R. Y-6). The companies are required to file their annual reports 90 days after the close of their fiscal year with the Federal Reserve Bank of the District in which the reporting company principally conducts its banking operations in the instant cases with the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. Upon receipt of the report it is reviewed for informational adequacy. This initial review is designed to assure that each question is answered; however, unless the information provided is obviously incorrect, no attempt is made at that time to verify that all questions have been correctly interpreted or accurately answered. Since most bank holding companies file annual reports simultaneously at the end of March, time and resource considerations do not permit a more thorough review at the time of filing. Moreover, in light of the instructions provided and the attestation to completeness and accuracy by the reporting company, there is a presumption of full and accurate responses. Later each annual report is reviewed more thoroughly. In this second review the financial information is analyzed; compliance with laws and regulations is ascertained; and some of the information regarding the scope of operations of the company is added to a computer data bank. During this procedure information that appears questionable is verified to the extent necessary to complete the analysis. Otherwise, unless a question is raised, perhaps in connection with an application or as a result of a special inquiry such as your Committee is conducting, it is entirely possible that reporting errors might go undetected. In the cases referred to in your letter-Southwest Bancshares, Inc., Texas Commerce Bancshares, Inc., and Mercantile National Bank at Dallas-the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas has written to each of the companies, explained what is required by the question and asked the companies to verify the accuracy of the response given or to complete the answer if the company had misinterpreted the question. Each company has acknowledged that the question was misinterpreted and informed the Reserve Bank that the additional material is being prepared. In addition, all Federal Reserve Banks have now been alerted to the possibility that the particular question may nave been misinterpreted by bank holding companies filing annual reports in their District. I appreciate your bringing this matter to our attention, thus affording us the opportunity to better assure accuracy in reports filed by registered bank holding companies. Sincerely yours, ARTHUR F. BURNS. APPENDIX D-CIVIL AERONAUTICS BOARD Hon. LEE METCALF, CIVIL AERONAUTICS BOARD, Chairman, Subcommittee on Budgeting, Management, and Expenditures DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: The enclosed report, entitled "Thirty Largest Stockholders of U.S. Certificated Air Carriers and Summary of Stock Holdings of Financial Institutions," was prepared in response to your letter of January 3, 1974. Each of the certificated route and supplemental air carrier operating under regulations prescribed by the Civil Aeronautics Board was directed to submit a list of the names and addresses of the top 30 stockholders with holdings in nominee accounts consolidated for each institutional holder. This report includes the list of the top 30 stockholders for each carrier, a summary of findings, several summary tables, and a description of the procedure used by carriers for compiling the lists. Because of the nature of your request and the interest you have expressed in the holdings of financial institutions, the summary of findings focuses on aggregate figures for the top 30 stockholders of air carriers and on the holdings of financial institutions. You will understand, however, that the holdings listed are those of record and to a considerable extent do not represent beneficial holdings, and that the Board has not concluded that industry-wide aggregations of shareholdings are necessarily meaningful. Please let us know if we may be of further assistance. Sincerely, Enclosure. ROBERT D. TIMM, Chairman. Staff note. Also see Appendix G, p. 934, for additional correspondence from the CAB regarding holdings in Eastern Airlines by Laurence Rockefeller. 37-733 74 pt. 3 34 (521) |