commercial bank chartered by the comptroller of the currency an agency of the U.S. Treasury Department. A national bank is supervised by the Comptroller and is a member bank in the Federal Reserve System.
About 30% of U.S. commercial banks have national charters, but national banks have economic power beyond what the numbers indicate, holding more than two-thirds of the total deposits in federally insured commercial banks. National banks are authorized by the gramm-leach-bliley act of 1999 to engage in any activity determined by the Federal Reserve Board to be financial in nature or related to a financial activity, subject to the approval of the Federal Reserve Board. Insurance underwriting, merchant banking and real estate development are, however, specifically excluded. In 2004, five years after enactment of the modernization law, the Federal Reserve Board and the Treasury may jointly allow national bank subsidiaries to offer merchant banking services for corporate clients. These expanded powers are authorized in the new section 4(k)4 of the Bank Holding Company Act.
commercial bank whose charter is approved by the U.S. Comptroller of the Currency rather than by a state banking department. National banks are required to be members of the Federal Reserve System and to belong to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).
internationally, synonymous with central bank. In the United States, a nationally chartered bank.
