Regulation
11/20/2018

How The Fed Changed The Game for Private Banks


stock-11-20-18.pngIn late August 2018, the Federal Reserve issued an interim final rule increasing the asset threshold from $1 billion to $3 billion under the Fed’s Small Bank Holding Company Policy Statement. The interim policy now covers almost 95 percent of the financial institutions in the U.S., significantly enhances the flexibility in capital structure, acquisitions, stock repurchases and ownership transfers, among other things, for institutions organized under a holding company structure.

No Consolidated Capital Treatment
The most significant benefit of small bank holding company status is that qualifying banks are not subject to consolidated capital rules. Instead, regulatory capital is evaluated only at the subsidiary bank level. As a result, small bank holding companies have the unique ability to issue debt at the holding company level and contribute the proceeds to its subsidiary bank as Tier 1 common equity without adversely impacting the regulatory capital condition of the holding company or the bank. Due to the expanded coverage of the new rule, banking organizations with up to $3 billion in assets can now take advantage of this benefit to support organic and acquisitive growth, stock repurchases and other corporate transactions.
Acquisition Leverage

Perhaps the most significant application of this benefit is in acquisitions by private institutions, whose equity may be less attractive or undesirable acquisition currency. For these institutions, an acquisition of any scale often requires additional capital, and, without access to public capital markets, utilizing leverage may represent the only viable option to fund the transaction.

Under the Small Bank Holding Company Policy Statement, an acquiring bank holding company may fund up to 75 percent of the purchase price of a target with debt, which equates to a maximum debt to equity ratio of 3-to-1, so long as the acquirer can reduce its debt to equity ratio to less than 0.3-to-1 within 12 years and fully repay the debt within 25 years. The enhanced ability to utilize debt in this context is designed to enable private holding companies to be more competitive with other institutions who have access to the public capital markets or who have a public currency to exchange.

Stock Repurchases
Ownership succession also remains a critical issue for many private holding companies, and the new rule extends the ability to use debt to enhance shareholder liquidity to an expanded group of organizations. In many cases, and especially for larger blocks of stock, a holding company represents the only prospective acquirer for privately-held shares. By using debt to fund stock repurchases, a small bank holding company can create liquidity to a selling shareholder, while providing a benefit to the remaining shareholders through the increase in their percentage ownership.

Moreover, stock repurchases often present themselves at times and in amounts that make equity offerings a less suitable alternative for funding. Finally, as discussed below, stock repurchases can be utilized to enhance shareholder value.

Attractiveness to Investors
While the new rule increases the operating flexibility of banking organizations by providing additional tools for corporate transactions, the use of leverage as part of an organization’s capital structure also results in a number of meaningful benefits to shareholders. First, holding company leverage, whether structured as senior or subordinated debt, generally carries a significantly lower cost of capital, as compared to equity instruments. The issuance of debt is non-dilutive to common shareholders, which means existing shareholders can realize the full benefit associated with corporate growth or stock repurchases funded through leverage without having to spread those benefits over a larger group of equity holders. In addition, unlike dividends, interest payments associated with holding company debt are tax deductible, which lowers the effective cost of the debt. Accordingly, funding growth or attractively priced stock repurchases through leverage can be immediately accretive to shareholders.

Final Thoughts
Funding growth, stock repurchases and other corporate transactions can be a challenge for banking organizations that do not have access to public capital markets or have a public currency. However, the revised Small Bank Holding Company Policy Statement provides management teams and boards of directors with additional tools to fund corporate activities and growth, manage regulatory capital, and enhance shareholder liquidity and value.

Geoffrey Kay