(a) Prohibited nonbanking activities and acquisitions. Except as provided in §225.22 of this subpart, a bank holding company or a subsidiary may not engage in, or acquire or control, directly or indirectly, voting securities or assets of a company engaged in, any activity other than:

(1) Banking or managing or controlling banks and other subsidiaries authorized under the BHC Act; and

(2) An activity that the Board determines to be so closely related to banking, or managing or controlling banks as to be a proper incident thereto, including any incidental activities that are necessary to carry on such an activity, if the bank holding company has obtained the prior approval of the Board for that activity in accordance with the requirements of this regulation.

(b) Exempt bank holding companies. The following bank holding companies are exempt from the provisions of this subpart:

(1) Family-owned companies. Any company that is a “company covered in 1970” (as defined in section 2(b) of the BHC Act), more than 85 percent of the voting securities of which was collectively owned on June 30, 1968, and continuously thereafter, by members of the same family (or their spouses) who are lineal descendants of common ancestors.

(2) Labor, agricultural, and horticultural organizations. Any company that was on January 4, 1977, both a bank holding company and a labor, agricultural, or horticultural organization exempt from taxation under section 501 of the Internal Revenue Code (26 U.S.C. 501(c)).

(3) Companies granted hardship exemption. Any bank holding company that has controlled only one bank since before July 1, 1968, and that has been granted an exemption by the Board under section 4(d) of the BHC Act, subject to any conditions imposed by the Board.

(4) Companies granted exemption on other grounds. Any company that acquired control of a bank before December 10, 1982, without the Board's prior approval under section 3 of the BHC Act, on the basis of a narrow interpretation of the term demand deposit or commercial loan, if the Board has determined that:

(i) Coverage of the company as a bank holding company under this subpart would be unfair or represent an unreasonable hardship; and

(ii) Exclusion of the company from coverage under this part is consistent with the purposes of the BHC Act and section 106 of the Bank Holding Company Act Amendments of 1970 (12 U.S.C. 1971, 1972(1)). The provisions of §225.4 of subpart A of this part do not apply to a company exempt under this paragraph.