FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM BNP Paribas Paris, France BancWest Corporation Honolulu, Hawaii Order Approving the Acquisition of a Bank BNP Paribas (“BNPP”) and BancWest Corporation (“BancWest”) have requested the Board’s approval under section 3 of the Bank Holding Company Act (12 U.S.C. § 1842) (“BHC Act”) to acquire all the voting shares of United California Bank, Los Angeles, California (“UCB”). Notice of the proposal, affording interested persons an opportunity to submit comments, has been published in the Federal Register (67 Federal Register 81 (2002)). The time for filing comments has expired, and the Board has considered the proposal and all comments received in light of the factors set forth in section 3 of the BHC Act. BNPP, with total consolidated assets of $709.2 billion, is the largest banking organization in France.1 BNPP operates branches in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, and San Francisco, agencies in Houston and Miami, and representative offices in Dallas and Atlanta. BNPP controls all of BancWest’s outstanding shares, and thereby indirectly controls BancWest’s subsidiary banks, Bank of the West, San Francisco, California (“Bank of the West”), and First Hawaiian Bank, Honolulu, Hawaii (“First Hawaiian”). BNPP also engages in a broad range of permissible nonbanking activities in the United States through its subsidiaries. 1 Asset and ranking data for BNPP are as of September 30, 2001, and are based on the exchange rate then applicable. -1- BancWest, with total consolidated assets of $19.8 billion, is the 35th largest banking organization in the United States, controlling less than 1 percent of total banking assets in insured commercial banks in the United States.2 As noted, BancWest operates Bank of the West and First Hawaiian. Bank of the West, with total assets of $12.8 billion, controls deposits of $6.9 billion in California, representing approximately 1.4 percent of total deposits of insured depository institutions in the state (“state deposits”).3 Bank of the West also operates branches in Oregon, New Mexico, Nevada, Washington, and Idaho. First Hawaiian, with total assets of $7.5 billion, controls deposits of $5.6 billion in Hawaii, representing approximately 30.3 percent of state deposits. UCB is controlled by UFJ Holdings, Inc., Osaka, Japan (“UFJ”).4 UCB, with total assets of $10.8 billion, controls deposits of $8 billion in California, representing approximately 1.6 percent of state deposits. 2 Asset and ranking data for BancWest are as of September 30, 2001. 3 Asset and deposit data for Bank of the West, First Hawaiian, and UCB are as of September 30, 2001. State deposit and ranking data are as of June 30, 2001. In this context, depository institutions include commercial banks, savings banks, and savings associations. 4 UCB was formed by the merger on July 2, 2001, of two U.S. subsidiary banks of UFJ, Sanwa Bank California, San Francisco, (“Sanwa CA”), and Tokai Bank of California, Los Angeles, (“Tokai CA”), both in California. UFJ was formed in connection with the integration of The Sanwa Bank, Limited, Osaka; The Tokai Bank, Limited, Nagoya; and The Toyo Trust and Banking Company, Limited, Tokyo; all in Japan, under a single holding company. See UFJ Holdings, Inc., 87 Federal Reserve Bulletin 270 (2001). -2- On consummation of the proposal, BancWest would become the 29th largest banking organization in the United States, with total consolidated assets of $30.6 billion, representing less than 1 percent of total banking assets of insured commercial banks in the United States. The subsidiary depository institutions of BancWest would control deposits of $14.9 billion in California, representing approximately 3 percent of state deposits.5 Competitive Considerations Section 3 of the BHC Act prohibits the Board from approving any proposal that would result in a monopoly or would be in furtherance of any attempt to monopolize the business of banking in any relevant banking market. The BHC Act also prohibits the Board from approving a proposed bank acquisition that would substantially lessen competition in any relevant banking market, unless the Board finds that the anticompetitive effects of the proposal clearly are outweighed in the public interest by the probable effect of the proposal in meeting the convenience and needs of the community to be served.6 The Board has reviewed carefully the competitive effects of the proposal in the relevant banking markets in light of comments received and all the facts of record. In particular, the Board has considered the number of competitors that would remain in the markets, the relative shares of total deposits in depository institutions in the markets (“market deposits”) controlled by the companies 5 Section 3(d) of the BHC Act allows the Board to approve an application by a bank holding company to acquire control of a bank located in a state other than the bank holding company’s home state if certain conditions are met. BNPP, a California bank holding company, proposes to acquire UCB, a California bank, through a bank holding company whose home state is Hawaii for purposes of the BHC Act. All conditions for an interstate acquisition enumerated in section 3(d) are met in this case. See 12 U.S.C. §§ 1842(d)(1)(A) and (B) and 1842(d)(2). 6 12 U.S.C. § 1842(c)(1). -3- involved in this transaction,7 the concentration levels of market deposits and the increase in these levels as measured by the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (“HHI”) under the Department of Justice Merger Guidelines (“DOJ Guidelines”), and other characteristics of the market.8 BNPP and BancWest compete directly with UCB in eight California banking markets. Consummation of the proposal without divestitures would be consistent with Board precedent and the DOJ Guidelines in all these markets.9 On 7 Deposit and market share data are as of June 30, 2001, and are based on calculations in which the deposits of thrift institutions, which include savings banks and savings associations, are weighted at 50 percent, unless otherwise noted. The Board previously has indicated that thrift institutions have become, or have the potential to become, significant competitors of commercial banks. See, e.g., Midwest Financial Group, 75 Federal Reserve Bulletin 386 (1989); National City Corporation, 70 Federal Reserve Bulletin 743 (1984). Thus, the Board regularly has included thrift deposits in the market share calculation on a 50-percent weighted basis. See, e.g., First Hawaiian, Inc., 77 Federal Reserve Bulletin 52 (1991). 8 Under the DOJ Guidelines, 49 Federal Register 26,823 (1984), a market is considered unconcentrated if the post-merger HHI is under 1000, moderately concentrated if the post-merger HHI is between 1000 and 1800, and highly concentrated if the post-merger HHI is more than 1800. The Department of Justice has informed the Board that a bank merger or acquisition generally will not be challenged (in the absence of other factors indicating anticompetitive effects) unless the post-merger HHI is at least 1800 and the merger increases the HHI by more than 200 points. The Department of Justice has stated that the higher than normal HHI thresholds for screening bank mergers for anticompetitive effects implicitly recognize the competitive effects of limited-purpose lenders and other nondepository financial institutions. 9 These markets are the Fairfield-Vacaville, Fresno, Hanford, Modesto, Sacramento, San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose, Stockton, and Visalia banking markets in California. Definitions of these banking markets and the effects of the proposal on the concentration of banking resources in each market are described in the Appendix. -4- consummation, one market would remain unconcentrated, six markets would remain moderately concentrated, and one market would remain highly concentrated as measured by the DOJ Guidelines. Numerous banking competitors would remain in each of these markets. The Department of Justice also has conducted a detailed review of the expected competitive effects of the proposal. The Department has advised the Board that it believes that consummation of the proposal is not likely to have a significantly adverse effect on competition in any relevant banking market. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (“FDIC”) has been afforded an opportunity to comment and has not objected to consummation of the proposal. After carefully reviewing all the facts of record, and for reasons discussed in this order, the Board has concluded that consummation of the proposal is not likely to result in a significantly adverse effect on competition or on the concentration of banking resources in any of the eight banking markets in which BNPP and UCB directly compete or in any other relevant banking market. Accordingly, based on all the facts of record, the Board has determined that competitive factors are consistent with approval. Convenience and Needs Considerations In acting on proposals under section 3 of the BHC Act, the Board is required to consider the effects of the proposal on the convenience and needs of the communities to be served and take into account the records of the relevant depository institutions under the Community Reinvestment Act (“CRA”).10 The CRA requires the federal financial supervisory agencies to encourage financial institutions to help meet the credit needs of local communities in which they operate, consistent with safe and sound operation, and requires the appropriate 10 12 U.S.C. § 2901 et seq. -5- federal supervisory agency to take into account an institution’s record of meeting the credit needs of its entire community, including low- and moderate-income (“LMI”) neighborhoods, in evaluating bank expansion proposals. The Board has carefully considered the convenience and needs factor and the CRA performance records of the subsidiary depository institutions of BNPP and BancWest and of UCB in light of all the facts of record, including a public comment received on the proposal.11 A.