On February 25, 1975, former Commissioner Richard J. Francis issued Bank Bulletin No. 9 which permitted state-chartered banks that had not been granted trust powers to act as the custodian of a Keogh (HR-10) or an individual retirement account (IRA) under certain circumstances.

The purpose of this addendum is to expand the authority to allow state-chartered banks which have not been granted trust powers to offer self-directed individual retirement accounts.

Acting at the customer's direction, a bank may invest in one or more of several investment alternatives including: (1) interest-bearing deposit accounts of the bank; (2) securities, including investment company shares, executed by a discount broker; and (3) precious metals and other investments permissible under the Internal Revenue Code. The bank may be compensated for acting as custodian of each account and, in addition, may receive compensation for effecting the purchase or sale of each investment, except deposit accounts issued by the bank.