View all text of Subpart J [§ 217.601 - § 217.608]
§ 217.605 - Determination of building blocks.
(a) In general. A supervised insurance organization must identify each building block parent and its allocation share of any downstream building block parent, as applicable.
(b) Operation. To identify building block parents and determine allocation shares, a supervised insurance organization must take the following steps in the following order:
(1) Inventory of companies. A supervised insurance organization must identify as inventory companies:
(i) All companies that are—
(A) Required to be reported on the FR Y-6;
(B) Required to be reported on the FR Y-10; or
(C) Classified as affiliates in accordance with NAIC Statement of Statutory Accounting Principles (SSAP) No. 25 and Schedule Y;
(ii) Any company, special purpose entity, variable interest entity, or similar entity that:
(A) Enters into one or more reinsurance or derivative transactions with inventory companies identified pursuant to paragraph (b)(1)(i) of this section;
(B) Is material;
(C) Is engaged in activities such that one or more inventory companies identified pursuant to paragraph (b)(1)(i) of this section are expected to absorb more than 50 percent of its expected losses; and
(D) Is not otherwise identified as an inventory company; and
(iii) Any other company that the Board determines must be identified as an inventory company.
(2) Determination of indicated capital framework. (i) A supervised insurance organization must:
(A) Determine the indicated capital framework for each inventory company; and
(B) Identify inventory companies that are subject to a regulatory capital framework.
(ii) The indicated capital framework for an inventory company is:
(A) If the inventory company is not engaged in insurance or reinsurance underwriting, the U.S. Federal banking capital rules, in particular:
(1) If the inventory company is not a depository institution, subparts A through F of this part; and
(2) If the inventory company is a depository institution, the regulatory capital framework applied to the depository institution by the appropriate primary Federal regulator—that is, subparts A through F of this part (Board), part 3 of this title (Office of the Comptroller of the Currency), or part 324 of this title (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation), as applicable;
(B) If the inventory company is engaged in insurance or reinsurance underwriting and subject to a regulatory capital framework that is scalar compatible, the regulatory capital framework; and
(C) If the inventory company is engaged in insurance or reinsurance underwriting and not subject to a regulatory capital framework that is scalar compatible, then NAIC RBC for life and fraternal insurers, health insurers, or property & casualty insurers based on the company's primary source of premium revenue.
(3) Identification of building block parents. A supervised insurance organization must identify all building block parents according to the following procedure:
(i)(A) Identify all top-tier depository institution holding companies in the supervised insurance organization.
(B) Any top-tier depository institution holding company is a building block parent.
(ii)(A) Identify any inventory company that is a depository institution holding company.
(B) An inventory company identified in paragraph (b)(3)(ii)(A) of this section is a building block parent.
(iii) Identify all inventory companies that are capital-regulated companies (that is, inventory companies that are subject to a regulatory capital framework) or material financial entities.
(iv)(A) Of the inventory companies identified in paragraph (b)(3)(iii) of this section, identify any inventory company that:
(1) Is assigned an indicated capital framework that is different from the indicated capital framework of any next upstream inventory company identified in paragraphs (b)(3)(i) through (iii) of this section or does not have a next upstream inventory company; and
(i) In a simple structure, an inventory company would compare its indicated capital framework to the indicated capital framework of its parent company. However, if the parent company does not meet the criteria to be identified as a building block parent, the inventory company must compare its capital framework to the next upstream company that is eligible to be identified as a building block parent. For purposes of this paragraph (b)(3)(iv), a company is “next upstream” to a downstream company if it controls or owns, in whole or in part, a company capital element of the downstream company either directly, or indirectly other than through a company identified in paragraphs (b)(3)(ii) and (iii) of this section.
(ii) [Reserved]
(2) Is assigned an indicated capital framework for which the Board has determined a scalar or, if the company in aggregate with all other companies subject to the same indicated capital framework are material, a provisional scalar;
(B) Of the inventory companies identified in paragraph (b)(3)(iii) of this section, identify any inventory company that:
(1) Is assigned an indicated capital framework that is the same as the indicated capital framework of each next upstream inventory company identified in paragraphs (b)(3)(i) through (iii) of this section;
(2) Is assigned an indicated capital framework for which the Board has determined a scalar or, if the company in aggregate with all other companies subject to the same indicated capital framework is material, a provisional scalar; and
(3) Is owned, in whole or part, by an inventory company that is subject to the same regulatory capital framework, and the owner:
(i) Applies a charge on the inventory company's equity value in calculating its company capital requirement; or
(ii) Deducts all or a portion of its investment in the inventory company in calculating its company available capital.
(C) An inventory company identified in paragraph (b)(3)(iv)(A) through (B) of this section is a building block parent.
(v) Include any inventory company identified in paragraph (b)(1)(ii) of this section as a building block parent.
(vi)(A) Identify any inventory company—
(1) For which more than one building block parent, as identified pursuant to paragraphs (b)(3)(i) through (v) of this section, owns a company capital element either directly or indirectly other than through another such building block parent; and
(2)(i) Is consolidated under any such building block parent's indicated capital framework; or
(ii) Owns downstreamed capital.
(B) An inventory company identified in paragraph (b)(3)(vi)(A) of this section is a building block parent.
(4) Building blocks. (i) Except as provided in paragraph (b)(4)(ii) of this section, a supervised insurance organization must assign an inventory company to the building block of any building block parent that owns a company capital element of the inventory company, or of which the inventory company is a subsidiary, directly or indirectly through any company other than a building block parent, unless the inventory company is a building block parent.
(A) For purposes of this section, subsidiary includes a company that is required to be reported on the FR Y-6, FR Y-10, or NAIC's Schedule Y, as applicable.
(B) [Reserved]
(ii) A supervised insurance organization is not required to assign to a building block any inventory company that is not a downstream company or subsidiary of a top-tier depository institution holding company.
(5) Financial statements. The supervised insurance organization must:
(i) For any inventory company whose indicated capital framework is NAIC RBC, prepare financial statements in accordance with SAP; and
(ii) For any building block parent whose indicated capital framework is subparts A through F of this part:
(A) Apply the same elections and treatment of exposures as are applied to the subsidiary depository institution;
(B) Apply subparts A through F of this part, to the members of the building block of which the building block parent is a member, on a consolidated basis, to the same extent as if the building block parent were a Board-regulated institution; and
(C) Where the building block parent is not the top-tier depository institution holding company, not deduct investments in capital of unconsolidated financial institutions, nor exclude these investments from the calculation of risk-weighted assets.
(6) Allocation share. A supervised insurance organization must, for each building block parent, identify any downstream building block parent owned directly or indirectly through any company other than a building block parent, and determine the building block parent's allocation share of these downstream building block parents pursuant to paragraph (d) of this section.
(c) Material financial entity election. (1) A supervised insurance organization may elect not to treat an inventory company meeting the criteria in paragraph (c)(2) of this section as a material financial entity. An election under this paragraph (c)(1) must be included with the first financial statements submitted to the Board after the company is included in the supervised insurance organization's inventory.
(2) The election in paragraph (c)(1) of this section is available to an inventory company if:
(i) The company engages in transactions consisting solely of either—
(A) Transactions for the purpose of transferring risk from one or more affiliates within the supervised insurance organization to one or more third parties; or
(B) Transactions to invest assets contributed to the company by one or more affiliates within the supervised insurance organization, where the company is established for purposes of limiting tax obligation or legal liability; and
(ii) The supervised insurance organization is able to calculate the adjustment required in § 217.607(b)(4).
(d) Allocation share. (1) Except as provided in paragraph (d)(2) of this section, a building block parent's allocation share of a downstream building block parent is calculated as the percentage of equity ownership of a downstream building block parent, including associated paid-in capital, held by an upstream building block parent directly or indirectly through a member of the upstream building block parent's building block.
(2) The top-tier depository institution holding company's allocation share of a building block parent that has no outstanding common equity or that is identified under paragraph (b)(3)(v) of this section is 100 percent. Any other building block parent's allocation share of such building block parent is zero.