The CHAIRMAN. If the standards were to be changed as recommended by Mr. Gidney, it would require him only to consider among other things whether the effect may be unduly to lessen competition or unduly to create a monopoly. That is correct; isn't it? Mr. BROWNELL. Would you say that again, Mr. Chairman? I did not follow that. The CHAIRMAN. If the standards were to be changed as recommended by Mr. Gidney? Mr. BROWNELL. Yes. The CHAIRMAN. It would require him only to consider among other things whether the effect may be unduly to lessen competition? Mr. BROWNELL. That is right. The CHAIRMAN. Or unduly to create a monopoly? Mr. BROWNELL. That is right. The CHAIRMAN. And yet he admits that he has no expertise on these questions. Mr. BROWNELL. That is why we would think that it would only be a matter of commonsense and good government to have the Attorney General, that is, the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice, consulted in all these cases. I think it is very important to have one single agency which will maintain the standard and interpret it. The CHAIRMAN. Under Mr. Gidney's proposal he would not have to ask your advice at all? Mr. BROWNELL. No; he would have the option to but he would not have to. The CHAIRMAN. He could disregard the Attorney General's Office completely? Mr. BROWNELL. Yes. The CHAIRMAN. Suppose that section 23 of the Senate Banking and Currency Committee bill should be adopted without the savings clause, such as you recommend, for the purpose of making clear continued applicability of the antitrust laws. Suppose, further, that a bank merger should take place accomplished by stock acquisition. Could the Department of Justice still proceed under section 7 by virtue of the fact that the acquisition is not exempted by present section 7 of the Clayton Act? Mr. BROWNELL. It would take a Philadelphia lawyer to answer that one. The CHAIRMAN. It is difficult. Mr. BROWNELL. It is difficult, and will be affected somewhat by the legislative history of these two proposals as they are developed in the succeeding weeks. The CHAIRMAN. It would certainly complicate the situation as far as your office is concerned. Mr. BROWNELL. Very much so. The CHAIRMAN. To pursue this further, if section 23 of Financial Institutions Act of 1957 is adopted without the antitrust savings clause, and if the present premerger notification bill is adopted, would a bank merger that has received advance approval by a Federal bank supervisory agency still be subject to antitrust prosecution by you under the Clayton Act? 90675-57- -3 Would you go along with the Federal Reserve Board's recommendations in that respect? Mr. BROWNELL. Yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Keating? Mr. KEATING. Mr. Attorney General, do you know the date upon which Mr. Gidney became Comptroller of the Currency. Mr. BROWNELL. No, I do not. Mr. KEATING. I will state to you as a fact it was April 16, 1953, and I now return to the question put to you by the chairman, that even though the Comptroller testified that he would not approve a merger where the effect might be substantially to lessen competition, from 1950 to May 1955 he did not formally disapprove any bank merger whatsoever for competitive reasons, isn't that right. Your answer was in the affirmative, based no doubt upon a lack of knowledge of the time when he became the Comptroller of the Currency. I feel sure that you would not have any knowledge about his predecessors in office. Mr. BROWNELL. That is correct. Mr. KEATING. At least you were referring only to Mr. Gidney and you were assuming that the chairman in these statements was giving you the dates when he served as the Comptroller of the Currency? Mr. BROWNELL. Yes. I am glad you brought that out because I would not want to have any misapprehension on that score. As a matter of fact, even since he came into office I did not mean to reflect at all on his judgment in passing on these things. There may not have been substantial anticompetitive situations present at all. Mr. KEATING. In other words, during a 2-year period from April 1953 to May 1955 he did not formally disapprove any bank merger for competitive reasons. There is nothing unusual or significant about that, is there? Mr. BROWNELL. As a matter of fact, I think it was his practice not to state the reasons. He may have had them in mind without its being on the record. The CHAIRMAN. I want to say that it is most unusual in my estimation that of all these applications for mergers presented to the Office of Comptroller of the Currency, not a single one was formally disapproved. Mr. KEATING. How many did he pass on? The CHAIRMAN. I don't know. He may have passed on some informally, I don't know, but the record can be disclosed in that regard and made manifest but I think it is most anomalous that this office passed on so many and did not formally disapprove a single one. It was not the chairman's intention to mislead in any respect. When I spoke of 1950, I gave those figures to be embraced within the period 1950 to 1955, May 1955. I did not have in mind the fact that Mr. Gidney became the Comptroller of Currency in 1953, but apparently the record of his predecessor is no different than the record of Mr. Gidney in that regard. We will put in the record at this point all the mergers involving national banks that took place from 1953, the time that Mr. Gidney assumed his office, until May 1955. It covers pages 480 to 492 of the hearings of the Antitrust Subcommittee of the House Committee on the Judiciary, part I, serial 3, Current Antitrust Problems, 84th Congress. The document is as follows: THE NAME, LOCATION, AND TOTAL ASSETS OF EACH NATIONAL BANK THAT HAS BEEN MERGED INTO OR CONSOLIDATED WITH ANOTHER BANK SINCE JAN. 1, 1953 Purchase of National banks by National and State banks during the year ended Dec. 31, 1953 Banks The First National Bank of New Concord, Ohio_ The Citizens National Bank of Lancaster, Ky. The National Bank of Lancaster, Ky.' The Farmers National Bank of Mercer, Pa.. The First National Bank of Mercer, Pa.'_ The First National Bank of Dayton, Pa--- The Punxsutawney National Bank, Punxsutawney, Pa.'. The Second National Bank of Uniontown, Pa.'. Farmers and Mechanics-Citizens National Bank of Frederick, The National Howark River Bank of Donda, N. Y The First National Bank of Perryopolis, Pa-- The Citizens National Bank of Frederick, Md.. The National Bank of Fairmount, N. Dak Peoples State Bank, Fairmount, N. Dak.'. First National Bank of Canajoharie, N. Y.1. The Rutherford National Bank, Rutherford, N. J.'. The Central National Bank at Cambridge, Ohio 1. Peoples Union Bank, McKeesport, Pa.'. The North Arlington National Bank, North Arlington, N. J.-. The First National Bank of Senecaville, Ohio.... The Pacific National Bank of Seattle, Wash.'. The National Bank of Commerce of New London, Conn.'. The First National Bank of Toms River, N. J.'. The Ambridge National Bank, Ambridge, Pa__ Mellon National Bank & Trust Co., Pittsburgh, Pa.'. Peoples National Bank & Trust of Monessen, Pa---. First National Bank of Beaver Falls, Pa----- The First National Bank of Oil City, Pa- Oil City Trust Co., Oil City, Pa.'_ The Peoples National Bank of Washington, Pa...... Peoples First National Bank & Trust Co., Pittsburgh, Pa.'. The First National Bank in Heron Lake, Minn. Total assets $1,714, 426 25, 723, 000 8, 169, 996 202, 906, 000 1, 837, 120 3, 015, 000 2,346, 819 11, 852, 000 799, 766 1, 430, 395 10, 272, 000 2,098, 593 33, 054, 000 10, 777, 389 25, 706, 000 880, 227 859, 000 2, 800, 485 15, 112, 000 7,466, 782 48, 001, 000 5, 438, 939 35, 135, 000 755, 024 4,095, 000 3,845, 267 96, 579, 000 3, 012, 596 14, 657, 000 922,267 12, 196, 000 3, 187, 206 24, 510, 000 11, 066, 790 1, 894, 489, 000 8, 585, 300 4,338, 086 5,094, 994 3, 013, 702 6, 745, 873 18, 995, 000 4, 655, 242 544, 005, 000 4,313, 476 64, 051, 000 1,623, 393 1,763, 000 3, 324, 950 41, 401, 000 The First National Bank of Dallas, Pa--. The First National Bank of Pretty Prairie, Kans First Security Bank of Utah, National Association, Ogden, Utah 11 Purchasing bank. 16, 265, 000 1, 283, 117 182, 023, 000 1 657, 336 1, 171, 000 26, 568, 652 150, 536, 000 11, 053, 237 THE NAME, LOCATION, AND TOTAL ASSETS OF EACH NATIONAL BANK THAT HAS BEEN MERGED INTO OR CONSOLIDATED WITH ANOTHER BANK SINCE JAN. 1, 1953— Continued Purchase of National banks by National and State banks during the year ended Dec. 31, 19538—Continued Banks The American National Bank of Big Bear Lake, Calif. Citizens State Bank of Roseau, Minn.'_ The United States National Bank of Portland, Oreg.'. The First National Bank of Hermiston, Oreg The First National Bank of Ringtown, Pa‒‒‒‒‒ The Pennsylvania National Bank & Trust Co. of Pottsville, Pa.'. The First National Bank of Falls Creek, Pa-- 1 Purchasing bank. Total assets NOTE. Asset figures for purchasing banks shown to nearest thousand dollars as of Jan. 1, 1953. Consolidations of National banks, or National and State banks, during the year ended Dec. 31, 1953 Port Washington-Manhasset National Bank, Port Washington, N. Y. 22,083, 789 4,950, 498 5,661, 670 16, 442, 119 6, 285, 245 36, 988, 954 21, 884, 411 27, 504, 611 68, 942, 361 30, 121, 967 657, 326 2,256, 174 6, 190, 095 19, 516, 969 6,838, 187 19, 401, 026 16, 368, 075 18, 581, 234 258,819, 071 38, 438, 750 154, 424, 013 1,234, 509 9, 312,989 17, 100, 782 15, 221, 116 8,432, 231 187, 196, 468 3,685, 932 5, 630, 329 58.758 482 96, 446, 972 2,513, 245 17,099,575 31.952, 049 215, 834, 304 2,876, 614 25,707,065 26, 239, 214 293, 678, 536 187,710,242 10, 547, 498 32,321, 899 195, 628, 699 9,316, 261 |