Law Commons^™

Is There A Dual Banking System?, Carl Felsenfeld, Genci Bilali

The Journal of Business, Entrepreneurship & the Law

There is a fierce controversy being waged today about the status of the historic dual banking system in American law. National banks (banks chartered by the national government) derive their powers from federal law. States, on the other hand, assert that they should be able to control certain aspects of national bank operations such as consumer protection written as state law. While the national banks acknowledge that states do have certain areas where they may control national bank activities--much contract law, for example, which is essentially state law--the national banks also assert a high level of authority--preemption--over the states where …