Securities Activities of Banks in the GLB Era - Cleary Gottlieb Steen ...

circumstances where products included in the bundle
are available separately). 6
(A) It is clear that there is no “perfect price” for any
particular product or service when multiple
products or services are offered to a customer.
A bank’s risk profile, risk tolerance, financial
and cost structures and capital requirements,
the interrelationships between -- and, thus, cost
savings and efficiencies on -- different products
and services (e.g., a lower cost of due diligence
if that needed for a credit facility duplicates
that needed for a concurrent securities
offering), and bona fide customer relationships,
could all be important components in pricing
decisions.
(B) Board staff has previously clarified that banks
may take into account a customer’s overall
relationship with the bank when pricing a
product in much the same way a bank would
evaluate a customer’s credit history. 7
(C) This conclusion is consistent with statements
made by Wayne Abernathy, Assistant Secretary
of the Treasury for Financial Institutions
(November 9, 2003), who cautioned against
confusing illegal “tying” of financial products
with the legal discounts banks give to good
customers who buy additional services (even if
the services are securities services, and even if
the good customer relationship was established
through lending).
6 See generally American Banker, June 8, 2005 (Bank of America waiver of mortgage
closing fees for customers who use its other products and services).
7 See Remarks by Board General Counsel Mattingly, May 23, 1993.
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