The Federal Reserve Board has announced revisions to Regulation Y that are intended to improve the competitiveness of bank holding companies by eliminating unnecessary regulatory burden and operating restrictions, and by streamlining the application and notice process.

The revisions are effective April 21, 1997..

The revisions include:

• a streamlined and expedited review process for bank and nonbanking proposals by well-run bank holding companies;

• reorganizing and expanding the regulatory list of nonbanking activities and removing a number of restrictions on those activities that are outmoded, have been superseded by Board order or are unnecessary restrictions that would not apply to insured banks that conduct the same activity;

• amendments to the tying restrictions, including removal of the regulatory extensions of those restrictions to bank holding companies and their nonbank subsidiaries; and

• other changes to eliminate unnecessary regulatory burden and to streamline and modernize Regulation Y, including changes to the provisions implementing the Change in Bank Control Act and section 914 of the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act of 1989.