INVESTMENTS
With approval of the Act of February 25, 1925, the legal right of a
national bank to engage in the business of buying and selling invest-
ment securities, a right previously based on the original grant of
authority to discount and negotiate “other evidences of debt” was
confirmed, and the investments eligible for national bank operations
were defined. The following excerpt from the act governs national
bank dealings in investment securities:
“***The business of buying and selling investment securities shall hereafter be
limited to buying and selling without recourse marketable obligations
evidencing indebtedness of any person, copartnership, association, or corpor-
ation, in the form of bonds, notes and/or debentures, commonly known as
investment securities,’ under such further definition of the term ‘in-
vestment securities,” as may by regulation be prescribed by the Comp-
troller of the Currency, and the total amount of such investment securities
of any one obligor or maker held by such association shall at no time
exceed 25 per centum of the amount of the capital stock of such association
actually paid in and unimpaired and 25 per centum of its unimpaired
surplus fund, but this limitation as to total amount shall not apply to
obligations of the United States, or general obligations of any State or of any
political subdivision thereof, or obligations issued under authority of the
Federal Farm Loan Act.”
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