15 U.S.C. § 6712 — Insurance underwriting in national banks

(a) In general. Except as provided in section 6713, a national bank and its subsidiaries may not provide insurance in a State^* as principal. The prohibition does not apply to authorized products.

(b) Authorized products. A product is authorized if (1) on January 1, 1999, the Comptroller of the Currency had decided in writing that national banks could provide it as principal, or national banks were lawfully doing so; (2) no court with relevant jurisdiction had finally overturned that decision; and (3) the product is not title insurance or an annuity contract whose income receives the tax treatment described in section 72 of title 26.

(c) Definition. “Insurance” means (1) a product regulated as insurance on January 1, 1999, under the applicable State insurance law where it is provided; (2) a product first offered after that date that (A) a State insurance regulator decides must be regulated as insurance because it insures, guarantees, or indemnifies against liability, loss of life, loss of health, or loss from damage to or destruction of property, including the listed types of bonds and life, health, title, property, casualty, automobile, homeowners, mortgage, commercial multiperil, liability, workers’ compensation, fire, farm, aircraft, fidelity, medical-malpractice, ocean, inland, and boiler-and-machinery insurance; and (B) is not a bank deposit, loan, discount, letter of credit, other extension of credit, trust or fiduciary service, qualified financial contract, or financial guaranty. But that exclusion does not apply when the product’s insurance component would make it a life-insurance contract under section 7702 of title 26, or, for a product that is not one of the listed credit or financial products, would qualify under section 832(b)(5) of title 26 for losses if the bank were taxed as an insurance company under section 831; or (3) an annuity contract whose income receives section 72 tax treatment.

(d) Rule of construction. Providing insurance, including reinsurance, outside the United States counts as providing insurance as principal in the State when it insures, guarantees, or indemnifies insurance products provided there, or indemnifies an insurance company concerning those products.