CCH Provides Timeline On U.S. Banking System

(RIVERWOODS, November 4, 1999) – With the banking system on the brink of major reform, CCH INCORPORATED (CCH), a leading provider of business law and financial information, takes a look back at the history of the U.S. banking system.

1933 — Glass-Steagall Act creates Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and erects barriers between banking and commerce, banking and securities.

1956 — Banking Holding Company Act establishes a structure to regulate the permissible non-banking activities of companies that owned banks, but bars bank holding companies from acquiring banks across state lines.

1967 — Savings and Loan Holding Company Act permits any company to own a single savings and loan institution.

1977 — Community Reinvestment Act requires banks to make loans in the same low-income and minority areas from which they accept deposits.

1987 — Federal Reserve Board allows banks to be affiliated with companies engaged in the private placement of commercial paper. Fed also permits subsidiaries of several of the largest bank holding companies to underwrite and deal in commercial paper, mortgage-backed securities, consumer-receivable related securities and municipal revenue bonds.

1987 — The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency rules that a national bank can underwrite securities backed by its own mortgage loans.

1988 — Senate and House pass separate bills repealing provisions of Glass-Steagall Act, but no common bill is agreed to.

1989 — Fed allows bank affiliates to underwrite and deal in securities if they derive no more than 10 percent of their gross revenues from those activities. Percentage limitation is later raised to 25 percent in 1997.

1991 — Bills reforming Glass-Steagall pass in the Senate, fail in the House.

1994 — Riegle-Neal Interstate Banking and Branching Efficiency Act of 1994 allows banking organizations to acquire banks in other states and to have the ability to branch into other states more easily.

1995 Clinton Administration proposes financial system modernization, but legislation does not progress beyond House Banking Committee.

1997-98 — Financial services modernization is passed by the House, but dies in the Senate amid disagreements about Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) and threatened presidential veto due to concerns about regulatory structure.

1999 — The summer of 1999 finally brings what the banking industry had sought for years, legislation approved by both houses of Congress. With most issues resolved, the legislation is almost doomed by the same issue that killed it in the 105th Conference — CRA. However, following a marathon late-night session, conferees reach a "credible resolution" in "good faith" over CRA. In addition, the White House finds all aspects of the legislation acceptable.

Additional Resource

Upon passage of the financial services reform legislation, CCH will issue The Financial Services Reform Act of 1999: Law, Explanation and Analysis, which will include the final text of the Act, Committee Reports, Explanations and Analysis by CCH banking and legal experts. Relied upon by the banking industry and their legal counsel, the book will be provided to news reporters on request.

Contacting CCH for Interviews or Information

Media interested in speaking with CCH banking law analysts or obtaining copies of the publication can contact Leslie Bonacum at 847-267-7153 or bonacuml@cch.com.

About CCH INCORPORATED

CCH INCORPORATED, headquartered in Riverwoods, Ill., was founded in 1913 and has served four generations of business professionals and their clients. The company produces more than 700 electronic and print products for the tax, legal, banking, securities, human resources, health care and small business markets.  CCH is a wholly owned subsidiary of Wolters Kluwer U.S.  The CCH web site can be accessed at www.cch.com.

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