John Sarbanes: “The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, to which he referred, the regulatory agency with the most at stake in terms…”

“The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, to which he referred, the regulatory agency with the most at stake in terms of protecting the deposit insurance funds, sees the op-sub as equivalent to the holding company structure for safety and soundness reasons. The FDIC Chairman, Donna Tanoue, wrote a letter to the Banking Committee: With the appropriate safeguards, the operating subsidiary and the holding company structures both provide adequate safety and soundness protection. We see no compelling public policy reason why policymakers should prefer one structure over the other. And absent such a compelling reason, we believe the Government should not interfere in banks' choice of organizational structure. Lest someone says that is only the current Chairman, let me refer to an article written by three previous FDIC Chairmen, both in Democratic and Republican administrations: Ricki Tigert Helfer, William Isaac, and William Seidman, all of them with many years of direct experience in this area. They all agree with the current FDIC Chairman and have offered strong support for the operating subsidiary approach.”