Transamerica Wins

When the Federal Reserve Board held that Transamerica Corp. monopolized West Coast banking and ordered it to sell its stock in 47 banks last year (TIME, April 7, 1952), Transamerica's then-President Sam Husbands snapped: "At long last we can now go into court and have a fair hearing." Last week, in court, Transamerica won its case.

In the U.S. court of appeals, Judge Albert Maris ruled that FRB's sweeping charges did not hold up. Said he: "The board paints with an exceedingly broad brush." FRB had shown that Transamerica had grown to gigantic size, dominating 41% of all banking offices, 39% of all bank deposits and 50% of all bank loans in California, Oregon, Washington, Nevada and Arizona. "It may well be in the public interest," said Judge Maris, "to curb the growth of this banking colossus by appropriate legislative or administrative action." But, he ruled, FRB had failed to prove any lessening of competition or tendency to monopoly.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.