BBT Corp. Approved for Financial Holding Co.

BB&T Corp. has received approval from the Federal Reserve to convert from a bank holding company to a financial holding company under the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act. To qualify as a financial holding company under the new act, a bank holding company’s banking subsidiaries must have at least a satisfactory rating under the Community Reinvestment Act and must be well capitalized and well managed.

“By converting to financial holding company status, we will now be positioned to take advantage of expanded powers, which include less restrictive affiliations with securities and insurance firms that were not permitted under the old Depression-era regulations, and direct investments in other financially related companies,” said Scott Reed, BB&T Corp. chief financial officer. Winston-Salem based BB&T Corp., with $47.5 billion in assets, operates 707 banking offices in the Carolinas, Georgia, Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia, Kentucky and Washington, D.C.