260
Opinion of the Court
to sell mortgages and other debt instruments they have originated or acquired by discount).
In sum, modern annuities, though more sophisticated than the standard savings bank deposits of old, answer essentially the same need. By providing customers with the opportunity to invest in one or more annuity options, banks are essentially offering financial investment instruments of the kind congressional authorization permits them to broker. Hence, the Comptroller reasonably typed the permission NationsBank sought as an "incidental powe[r] . . . necessary to carry on the business of banking." 4
III
A
In the alternative, VALIC argues that 12 U. S. C. § 92 (1988 ed., Supp. V) bars NationsBank from selling annuities as agent. That section provides:
"In addition to the powers now vested by law in [national banks] any such [bank] located and doing business in any place the population of which does not exceed five thousand inhabitants . . . may . . . act as the agent for any fire, life, or other insurance company authorized by the authorities of the State in which said bank is located to do business in said State, by soliciting and selling insurance and collecting premiums on policies issued by such company . . . ."
The parties disagree about whether § 92, by negative implication, precludes national banks located in places more populous than 5,000 from selling insurance. We do not reach
4 Assuring that the brokerage in question would not deviate from traditional bank practices, the Comptroller specified that NationsBank "will act only as agent, . . . will not have a principal stake in annuity contracts and therefore will incur no interest rate or actuarial risks." Comptroller's Letter 48a.
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