Community Based, Nationally Recognized (sm)

Tag Archives: TLGP

An Update on All Things TARP

On January 30, 2009, Rob Klingler presented An Update on All Things TARP at the Alabama Bankers Association Community Bank Directors College.  The presentation gives an overview of the TARP Capital Purchase Program and FDIC’s Temporary Liquidity Guarantee Program.

(more…)

Issuance of FDIC Guaranteed Debt

Over the last several weeks, we have had further conversations with clients and the FDIC regarding the details of the Debt Guarantee Program under the FDIC’s Temporary Liquidity Guarantee Program.  In the course of these conversations, we have noticed a misunderstanding of several key components of the program.

  • Lines of Credit are not Senior Unsecured Debt. Under the regulations, senior unsecured debt must have “a specified and fixed principal amount.”  (12 CFR 370.2(e)(1).)  As a result, lines of credit are not eligible for an FDIC guarantee, and should not be included in calculating the amount of senior unsecured debt outstanding at September 30, 2008.
  • 2% of Liabilities Test is Only Available for Depository Institutions. If a bank holding company had no “senior unsecured debt” outstanding at September 30, 2008 (and remember that lines of credit are not included), then its maximum amount of guaranteed debt that can be issued is zero.  Only depository institutions themselves (and not their parent entities) can take advantage of the alternative cap of 2% of the total liabilities outstanding as of September 30, 2008.
  • Approvals to Establish or Increase a Debt Guarantee Cap will be “Very Rare.” The regulations provide a process for entities to establish or increase a debt guarantee cap.  However, we understand that all applications go to the highest levels of the FDIC in Washington DC, and there face high levels of scrutiny.  No timeframe has been provided, but given the level of scrutiny and DC review, bottlenecks are virtually guaranteed to develop.  We understand that the FDIC has lots of applications currently in the system, but the FDIC believes that approvals will be “very rare.”

FDIC Clarifies Use of Guaranteed Debt to Provide Capital

We have previously posted on the possibility of bank holding companies using the TLGP Debt Guarantee to provide capital to subsidiary banks.  In that post, we commented on the odds of success and noted that the FDIC had not taken a formal position.  Today, the FDIC updated its TLGP FAQ and confirmed that the odds of success are in fact very low.

The FDIC’s revised answer states:

Can guaranteed debt issued by the parent company be put in a subsidiary bank as capital?

The FDIC envisions few if any circumstances under which it would approve holding company applications to establish a cap or to increase a cap where the proceeds from the resulting guaranteed debt issuance would be injected as capital into a subsidiary bank.  The Temporary Liquidity Guarantee Program was not intended to be a capital enhancement program.  The Treasury Department’s TARP program has been set up for that purpose.  The purpose of the Temporary Liquidity Guarantee Program is to restore liquidity to the intermediate term debt market.

As a reminder, the TLGP’s alternative guarantee cap of 2% of liabilities only applies to depository institutions.  Bank holding companies are not entitled to use the 2% of liabilities test and are only eligible to issue 125% of the amount of senior unsecured debt that was outstanding as of September 30, 2008.  As a result, we believe most community bank holding companies will be required to seek FDIC approval to establish a cap or to increase a cap in order to issue FDIC guaranteed debt.  Based on the FDIC’s updated analysis, this approval seems highly unlikely.

(more…)

Further Guidance on Debt Guarantee

On December 11, 2008, the FDIC updated its Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) on the Temporary Liquidity Guarantee Program.  The updated questions address both the Transaction Account and Debt Guarantee portions of the TLGP, but this post focuses on the Debt Guarantee.

Further Clarification on Brokered Interbank CDs

The FAQ clarifies that if an issuing bank owes a CD to a broker, the CD does not meet the definition of senior unsecured debt (and will not be guaranteed) even where an insured depository institution or credit union is the beneficiary of the CD.  If, on the other hand, the broker merely arranges placement of a CD and the bank or thrift owes the CD directly to another insured depository institution or credit union, then the CD meets the definition of senior unsecured debt (and will be guaranteed), provided that the debt is owed to the insured depository institution or credit union in its own capacity and not as agent for someone else.

(more…)