Article by J. Michael Cutshaw and Walter B. Stuart IV
Since the early days of our republic, the courts have recognized the economic importance of banking and its susceptibility to governmental control. During the past decade, Congress repeatedly has exercised its control over the banking industry in order to achieve a variety of economic and social objectives. The pace of change in the once staid and sedate area of banking law quickens daily.
Until 1984, Louisiana's banking landscape remained fairly constant. Bank operations were governed by laws that derived principally from acts of 1902 vintage. Louisiana's bank holding company law had remained largely unaltered since 1962. All this changed in 1984, when the Louisiana Legislature, enacting a new banking law for the state (the ‘Recodification’), eliminated the former classifications of ‘banking association,’ ‘savings bank,’ and ‘savings, safe deposit and trust banks.’ The old policy designed to ‘protect and foster the growth of the independent unit bank’ was swept away in favor of legislation that permits bank holding companies to own and to control more than one bank (the ‘Multibanking Law’). Louisiana's banking revolution has begun.
This article will survey the nature of Louisiana's banking revolution. Following the organization of the Recodification itself, the article analyzes the Recodification on a chapter by chapter basis. The provisions of Louisiana's new Multibanking Law are then discussed in sequence, as they appear in chapter 6.
About the Author
J. Michael Cutshaw. General Counsel, Louisiana Bankers Association; B.A. 1972, Tulane University J.D. 1975, Louisiana State University. Mr. Cutshaw served as the Reporter for the subcommittee of the Louisiana Bankers Association responsible for drafting the recent recodification of Louisiana's banking law.
Walter B. Stuart IV. Partner, Gordon, Arata, McCollam, Stuart & Duplantis, New Orleans, Louisiana; B.A. 1968, J.D. 1973, Tulane University. Mr. Stuart served as Chairman of the recodification drafting subcommittee of the Louisiana Bankers Association.
Citation
59 Tul. L. Rev. 602 (1985)