12 U.S.C. Chapter 53 — WALL STREET REFORM AND CONSUMER PROTECTION

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53 · Wall street reform and consumer protection

United States Government work; public domain under 17 U.S.C. § 105.

Defined terms · 145

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account
means an agreement between an individual and an eligible entity under which the individual obtains from or through the entity 1 or more banking products and services, and includes a deposit account, a savings account (including a money market savings account), an account for a closed-end loan, and other products or services, as the Secretary deems appropriate.
administrative expenses of the receiver
includes—
affected employee
means—
affiliate
means any person that controls, is controlled by, or is under common control with another person.
agency
means—
agency administrator
means the head of an agency.
antitrust laws
has the same meaning as in subsection (a) of section 12 of title 15, except that such term includes section 45 of title 15, to the extent that such section 45 applies to unfair methods of competition.
appropriate Federal banking agency
has the same meaning as in section 1813(q) of this title, as amended by title III.1
appropriate Federal regulator
means the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Board of Directors of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Director of the Office of Thrift Supervision, the National Credit Union Administration Board, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Federal Housing Finance Agency;
appropriate financial regulator
means—
bank holding company
has the same meaning as in section 1841 of this title;
Bankruptcy Code
means title 11.
Board of Governors
means the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.
bridge financial company
means a new financial company organized by the Corporation in accordance with section 5390(h) of this title for the purpose of resolving a covered financial company.
Bureau
means the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection established under title X.1
Bureau investigation
means any inquiry conducted by a Bureau investigator for the purpose of ascertaining whether any person is or has been engaged in any conduct that is a violation, as defined in this section.
Bureau investigator
means any attorney or investigator employed by the Bureau who is charged with the duty of enforcing or carrying into effect any Federal consumer financial law.
business day
means any day other than any Saturday, Sunday, or any day on which either the New York Stock Exchange or the Federal Reserve Bank of New York is closed.
business of insurance
has the same meaning as in section 5481(3) of this title.
Chairperson
means the Chairperson of the Council.
claim
means any right to payment, whether or not such right is reduced to judgment, liquidated, unliquidated, fixed, contingent, matured, unmatured, disputed, undisputed, legal, equitable, secured, or unsecured.
clearing organization
has the same meaning as in section 402 of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Improvement Act of 1991 [12 U.S.C. 4402].
Commission
means the Securities and Exchange Commission, except in the context of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
commodity contract
means—
community development financial institution
has the same meaning as in section 4702(5) of this title.
company
means any entity other than a natural person that is incorporated or organized under Federal law or the laws of any State.
consumer
means an individual or an agent, trustee, or representative acting on behalf of an individual.
consumer financial product or service
means any financial product or service that is described in one or more categories under—
consumer financial protection functions
means—
consumer protection regulation
means a regulation that the Bureau is authorized to prescribe under the Federal consumer financial laws.
Corporation
means the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.
Council
means the Financial Stability Oversight Council established under subchapter I.
Court
means the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, unless the context otherwise requires.
covered agencies
means—
covered broker or dealer
means a covered financial company that is a broker or dealer that—
covered employee
means any individual performing tasks related to the offering or provision of a consumer financial product or service.
covered financial institution
means—
covered person
means—
covered subsidiary
means a subsidiary of a covered financial company, other than—
credit
means the right granted by a person to a consumer to defer payment of a debt, incur debt and defer its payment, or purchase property or services and defer payment for such purchase.
credit union
means a Federal credit union, State credit union, or State-chartered credit union, as those terms are defined in section 1752 of this title.
custodian
means the custodian or any deputy custodian designated by the Bureau.
Data Center
means the data center established under section 5344 of this title;
data standard
means a standard that specifies rules by which data is described and recorded.
default
means a failure to comply with the terms of a loan or other obligation to such an extent that the property securing the obligation is foreclosed upon.
deposit-taking activity
means—
depository institution holding company
has the same meaning as in section 1813 of this title.
designated activity
means a payment, clearing, or settlement activity that the Council has designated as systemically important under section 5463 of this title.
designated clearing entity
means a designated financial market utility that is a derivatives clearing organization registered under section 5b of the Commodity Exchange Act (7 U.S.C. 7a–1) or a clearing agency registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission under section 17A of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (15 U.S.C. 78q–1).
designated financial market utility
means a financial market utility that the Council has designated as systemically important under section 5463 of this title.
designated transfer date
means the date established under section 5582 of this title.
Director
means the Director of the Bureau.
documentary material
includes the original or any copy of any book, document, record, report, memorandum, paper, communication, tabulation, chart, logs, electronic files, or other data or data compilations stored in any medium.
eligible entity
means—
eligible financial company
means any bank holding company with total consolidated assets equal to or greater than $50,000,000,000 and any nonbank financial company supervised by the Board of Governors.
enumerated consumer laws
means—
exchange facilitator
means a person that—
existing retirement plan
means, with respect to a transferred employee, the retirement plan (including the Financial Institutions Retirement Fund), and any associated thrift savings plan, of the agency from which the employee was transferred in which the employee was enrolled on the day before the date on which the employee was transferred.
fair lending
means fair, equitable, and nondiscriminatory access to credit for consumers.
Federal banking agencies
means all of the agencies referred to in subparagraph (A), collectively.
Federal banking agency
means, individually, the Board of Governors, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and the Corporation;
Federal consumer financial law
means the provisions of this title,1 the enumerated consumer laws, the laws for which authorities are transferred under subtitles F and H, and any rule or order prescribed by the Bureau under this title,1 an enumerated consumer law, or pursuant to the authorities transferred under subtitles F and H.
Federal Employee Retirement Program
means either the Civil Service Retirement System established under chapter 83 of title 5 or the Federal Employees Retirement System established under chapter 84 of title 5, depending upon the service history of the individual;
Federal Reserve System Retirement Plan
means the Retirement Plan for Employees of the Federal Reserve System;
Federal Reserve System Thrift Plan
means the Thrift Plan for Employees of the Federal Reserve System.
Federal Reserve System transferred employee
means a transferred employee who is an employee of the Board of Governors or a Federal reserve bank on the day before the designated transfer date, and who is transferred to the Bureau on the designated transfer date pursuant to this part;
federally insured depository institution
means any insured depository institution (as that term is defined in section 1813 of this title) and any insured credit union (as that term is defined in section 1752 of this title).
filing date
means the date on which the Corporation is appointed as receiver of the covered broker or dealer.
financial company
has the same meaning as in subchapter II, and includes an insured depository institution and an insurance company;
financial contract
means a legally binding agreement between 2 or more counterparties, describing rights and obligations relating to the future delivery of items of intrinsic or extrinsic value among the counterparties;
financial holding company
has the same meaning as in section 1841(p) of this title;
financial institution
means a broker or dealer, a depository institution, a futures commission merchant, a bridge financial company, or any other institution determined by the Corporation, by regulation, to be a financial institution;
financial instrument
means a financial contract in which the terms and conditions are publicly available, and the roles of one or more of the counterparties are assignable without the consent of any of the other counterparties (including common stock of a publicly traded company, government bonds, or exchange traded futures and options contracts).
financial market utility
means any person that manages or operates a multilateral system for the purpose of transferring, clearing, or settling payments, securities, or other financial transactions among financial institutions or between financial institutions and the person.
financial product
means a security, an insurance product (including an insurance product that pays a return, whether fixed or variable), a bank product, and a loan product;
financial product or service
means—
financial transaction
includes—
financial transaction data
means the structure and legal description of a financial contract, with sufficient detail to describe the rights and obligations between counterparties and make possible an independent valuation;
foreign exchange
means the exchange, for compensation, of currency of the United States or of a foreign government for currency of another government.
foreign nonbank financial company
means a company (other than a company that is, or is treated in the United States as, a bank holding company) that is—
forward contract
means—
functionally regulated subsidiary
has the same meaning as in section 1844(c)(5) of this title.
Fund
means the Orderly Liquidation Fund established under section 5390(n) of this title.
generally applicable leverage capital requirements
means—
generally applicable risk-based capital requirements
means—
in danger of default
means a covered financial company with respect to which the Corporation or appropriate State authority has determined that—
insider
has the same meaning as in section 101(31) of the Bankruptcy Code;
insolvent
has the same meaning as in section 101(32) of the Bankruptcy Code.
insufficiency
means the amount, if any, by which a claim against the covered financial company exceeds a mutual debt owed to the covered financial company by the holder of such claim.
insurance company
means any entity that is—
insured credit union
has the same meaning as in section 1752 of this title.
investment adviser
has the same meaning as in section 202 of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 (15 U.S.C. 80b–2);
investment company
has the same meaning as in section 3 of the Investment Company Act of 1940 (15 U.S.C. 80a–3).
joint resolution
means only a joint resolution—
liquidity event
means—
manufactured home
has the same meaning as in section 5402 of title 42.
member agency
means an agency represented by a voting member of the Council.
minority
has the same meaning as in section 1204(c) of the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act of 1989 (12 U.S.C. 1811 note).
minority-owned business
has the same meaning as in section 1441a(r)(4)(A) of this title, as in effect on the day before the transfer date.
misleading or fraudulent marketing
means the use of a misleading designation by a person that sells to or advises a senior in connection with the sale of a financial product;
modular home
means a house built in a factory in 2 or more modules that meet the State or local building codes where the house will be located, and where such modules are transported to the building site, installed on foundations, and completed.
motor vehicle
means—
motor vehicle dealer
means any person or resident in the United States, or any territory of the United States, who—
NASAA
means the North American Securities Administrators Association;
nonbank financial company
means a U.S. nonbank financial company and a foreign nonbank financial company.
nonbank financial company supervised by the Board of Governors
means a nonbank financial company that the Council has determined under section 5323 of this title shall be supervised by the Board of Governors.
off-balance-sheet activities
means an existing liability of a company that is not currently a balance sheet liability, but may become one upon the happening of some future event, including the following transactions, to the extent that they may create a liability:
Office
means the Office of Minority and Women Inclusion established by an agency under subsection (a).
Office of Financial Research
means the office established under section 5342 of this title.
payment instrument
means a check, draft, warrant, money order, traveler’s check, electronic instrument, or other instrument, payment of funds, or monetary value (other than currency).
payment, clearing, or settlement activity
means an activity carried out by 1 or more financial institutions to facilitate the completion of financial transactions, but shall not include any offer or sale of a security under the Securities Act of 1933 (15 U.S.C. 77a et seq.), or any quotation, order entry, negotiation, or other pre-trade activity or execution activity.
person
includes any governmental entity in addition to any entity included in the definition of such term in section 1, title 1.
person regulated by a State insurance regulator
has the same meaning as in section 5481(22) of this title.
person regulated by the Commission
means a person who is—
person regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission
means any person that is registered, or required by statute or regulation to be registered, with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, but only to the extent that the activities of such person are subject to the jurisdiction of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission under the Commodity Exchange Act [7 U.S.C. 1 et seq.].
person regulated by the Farm Credit Administration
means any Farm Credit System institution that is chartered and subject to the provisions of the Farm Credit Act of 1971 (12 U.S.C. 2001 et seq.).
person that performs income tax preparation activities for consumers
means—
primary financial regulatory agency
means—
property
includes all real property (including leaseholds) and all personal property, including computers, furniture, fixtures, equipment, books, accounts, records, reports, files, memoranda, paper, reports of examination, work papers, and correspondence related to such reports, and any other information or materials.
prudential regulator
means—
prudential standards
means enhanced supervision and regulatory standards developed by the Board of Governors under section 5365 of this title.
qualified financial contract
means any securities contract, commodity contract, forward contract, repurchase agreement, swap agreement, and any similar agreement that the Corporation determines by regulation, resolution, or order to be a qualified financial contract for purposes of this paragraph.
Research and Analysis Center
means the research and analysis center established under section 5344 of this title;
savings and loan holding company
has the same meaning as in section 1467a(a) of this title.
Secretary
means the Secretary of the Treasury.
senior
means any individual who has attained the age of 62 years or older;
service member
means any member of the United States Armed Forces and any member of the National Guard or Reserves.
service provider
means any person that provides a material service to a covered person in connection with the offering or provision by such covered person of a consumer financial product or service, including a person that—
short-term debt
means such liabilities with short-dated maturity that the Board of Governors identifies, by regulation, except that such term does not include insured deposits.
SIPC
means the Securities Investor Protection Corporation.
smaller insured depository institution
means an insured depository institution with total consolidated assets of $5,000,000,000 or less.
solvent
means that the value of the assets of an entity exceed its obligations to creditors.
specified plan or arrangement
means any plan, account, or arrangement described in section 220, 223, 401(a), 403(a), 403(b), 408, 408A, 529, 529A, or 530 of title 26, or any employee benefit or compensation plan or arrangement, including a plan that is subject to title I of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 [29 U.S.C. 1001 et seq.], or any prepaid tuition program offered by a State.
State
means any State, commonwealth, territory, or possession of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa, Guam, or the United States Virgin Islands.
stored value
means funds or monetary value represented in any electronic format, whether or not specially encrypted, and stored or capable of storage on electronic media in such a way as to be retrievable and transferred electronically, and includes a prepaid debit card or product, or any other similar product, regardless of whether the amount of the funds or monetary value may be increased or reloaded.
Supervisory Agency
means the Federal agency that has primary jurisdiction over a designated financial market utility under Federal banking, securities, or commodity futures laws, as follows:
swap agreement
means—
transfer
means every mode, direct or indirect, absolute or conditional, voluntary or involuntary, of disposing of or parting with property or with an interest in property, including retention of title as a security interest and foreclosure of the equity of redemption of the covered financial company.
transfer date
means the date established under section 5411 of this title.
transferred employee
means, as the context requires, an employee transferred to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency or the Corporation under section 5432 of this title.
transmitting or exchanging funds
means receiving currency, monetary value, or payment instruments from a consumer for the purpose of exchanging or transmitting the same by any means, including transmission by wire, facsimile, electronic transfer, courier, the Internet, or through bill payment services or through other businesses that facilitate third-party transfers within the United States or to or from the United States.
value
means property, or satisfaction or securing of a present or antecedent debt of the covered financial company, but does not include an unperformed promise to furnish support to the covered financial company;
violation
means any act or omission that, if proved, would constitute a violation of any provision of Federal consumer financial law.
walkaway clause
means any provision in a qualified financial contract that suspends, conditions, or extinguishes a payment obligation of a party, in whole or in part, or does not create a payment obligation of a party that would otherwise exist, solely because of the status of such party as a nondefaulting party in connection with the insolvency of a covered financial company that is a party to the contract or the appointment of or the exercise of rights or powers by the Corporation as receiver for such covered financial company, and not as a result of the exercise by a party of any right to offset, setoff, or net obligations that exist under the contract, any other contract between those parties, or applicable law.
women-owned business
has the meaning given the term “women’s business” in section 1441a(r)(4)(B) of this title, as in effect on the day before the transfer date.