Opinion
When Banks Go National
Published: January 16, 2004
This week's announcement that J. P. Morgan Chase will acquire Bank One, much like Bank of America's proposed merger with FleetBoston Financial, signifies the advent of nationwide commercial banks. It is a healthy, long overdue development. For two centuries, in an idiosyncratic nod to Andrew Jackson's 19th-century populism and 18th-century quarrels between Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton, banks were hindered from operating in more than one state. Under this senseless arrangement, businesses could not rely on one bank in various markets. Individuals were forced to find a new bank if they were moving across a state line, as if they had moved abroad.
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