Variable Annuity Life Insurance v. Clarke

GOLDBERG, Circuit Judge:

In an opinion letter issued on March 21, 1990,-the Comptroller, of the Currency deter-, mined that § 24(7) of the National Bank Act, which grants national banks the power to engage in incidental activities necessary to the business of banking, authorizes national banks to sell annuity contracts. The Comptroller also concluded that 12 U.S.C. § 92, which permits national banks to act as insurance agents in towns with less than 5,000 inhabitants, does not limit national banks’ power to sell insurance in towns with a population of over 5,000; and in any case, that…