258
Opinion of the Court
enth. Brief for Respondent 35-45. According to VALIC, the five specific activities listed in § 24 Seventh after the words "business of banking" are exclusive—banks are confined to these five activities and to endeavors incidental thereto. Id., at 35-36. VALIC thus attributes no independent significance to the words "business of banking." We think the Comptroller better comprehends the Act's terms.
The second sentence of § 24 Seventh, in limiting banks' "dealing in securities," presupposes that banks have authority not circumscribed by the five specifically listed activities. Congress' insertion of the limitation decades after the Act's initial adoption makes sense only if banks already had authority to deal in securities, authority presumably encompassed within the "business of banking" language which dates from 1863. VALIC argues, however, that the limitation was imposed by the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933, and that the power Glass-Steagall presupposed was specifically granted in the McFadden Act of 1927. Brief for Respondent 46. While the statute's current wording derives from the Glass-Steagall Act, see Act of June 16, 1933, ch. 89, § 16, 48 Stat. 184, the earlier McFadden Act does not bolster VALIC's case, for that Act, too, limited an activity already part of the business national banks did. See Act of Feb. 25, 1927, § 2(b), 44 Stat. 1226 ("Provided, That the business of buying and selling investment securities shall hereinafter be limited to buying and selling without recourse . . . ."); see also Clarke v. Securities Industry Assn., 479 U. S., at 407- 408 (even before the McFadden Act, banks conducted securities transactions on a widespread basis); 2 F. Redlich, The Molding of American Banking: Men and Ideas, pt. 2, pp. 389- 393 (1951) (describing securities activities of prominent early national banks).2
2 We expressly hold that the "business of banking" is not limited to the enumerated powers in § 24 Seventh and that the Comptroller therefore has discretion to authorize activities beyond those specifically enume-
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