banking expansion across state lines through bank holding company acquisitions. Interstate expansion of commercial banking companies began in the mid-1980s when state legislatures enacted laws permitting holding company acquisitions on a reciprocal basis with other states.
Interstate banking has evolved in three distinct phases, starting in the 1980s with regional interstate banking, where banking companies within a region-the Northeast or Southeast-merged to create larger banks; regional expansion under state laws containing a national trigger permitting mergers with banks in any other state after a certain date; and nationwide interstate banking. The Riegle-Neal Interstate Banking and Branching Efficiency Act permitted well-capitalized banks to acquire banks anywhere in the United States after Oct. 1, 1995.
