MR. JUSTICE STEWART delivered the opinion of the Court.
For many years the State of Georgia restricted banks located in cities from opening branches in suburban areas. To circumvent these restrictions in the Atlanta area, the Citizens & Southern National Bank (C&S National) formed the Citizens & Southern Holding Company (C&S Holding), and the latter company embarked on a program of forming de facto branch banks in the suburbs of Atlanta. This program involved, among other features, ownership by C&S Holding of 5 percent of the stock of each of the suburban banks (the maximum allowed by state law), ownership of much of the remaining stock by parties friendly to C&S,
In 1970, Georgia amended its banking statutes to allow de jure branching on a countywide basis. Because the city of Atlanta is contained within two counties, DeKalb and Fulton, which encompass the Atlanta suburbs in which the 5-percent banks operated, this change in the law meant that C&S National could now absorb the 5-percent banks as true branches. C&S consequently applied to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), under the Bank Merger Act of 1966, 80 Stat. 7, 12 U. S. C. § 1828, for permission to acquire all of the stock of six of the 5-percent banks historically operated by C&S as de facto branches. The FDIC authorized all but one of the proposed acquisitions.
The Justice Department immediately commenced this litigation in a Federal District Court for injunctive relief, alleging that the five acquisitions authorized by the FDIC would lessen competition in relevant banking markets, and thus violate § 7 of the Clayton Act, 38 Stat. 731, as amended, 64 Stat. 1125, 15 U. S. C. § 18, and that the historic "de facto branch" relations between C&S and the six 5-percent banks constituted unreasonable restraints of trade in violation of § 1 of the Sherman Act, 26 Stat. 209, as amended, 15 U. S. C. § 1. After a trial, the court rendered judgment for C&S on all the issues. 372 F.Supp. 616. The Government appealed under § 2 of the Expediting Act, 32 Stat. 823, as amended, 15 U. S. C. § 29, and we noted probable jurisdiction.
I. The Background of This Litigation
In applying the antitrust laws to banking, careful account must be taken of the pervasive federal and state regulation characteristic of the industry, "particularly the legal restraints on entry unique to this line of commerce." United States v. Marine Bancorporation, 418 U.S. 602, 606. This admonition has special force in the present case, for the de facto branch arrangements and the proposed acquisitions involved here were a direct response to Georgia's historic restrictions on branch banking.
Before 1927 Georgia permitted statewide branching, and C&S National, then as now headquartered in Savannah, established three branches in the city of Atlanta. In 1927, state law was changed to prohibit all branching.
By the 1950's, C&S National was interested primarily in suburban expansion. The Atlanta city limits had been frozen since 1952, and the area's economic and population growth consequently occurred primarily outside the city's boundaries. Between 1959 and 1969, C&S Holding accordingly established in the Atlanta suburbs (in DeKalb and Fulton Counties) the six 5-percent
Each of these six banks was made a "correspondent associate" bank within the C&S system. This status involved many different relationships between the 5-percent bank and C&S: In addition to the 5-percent stock held by C&S Holding, substantial shares were also held by officers, shareholders, and friendly customers of other C&S banks, and by their family members. It was understood from the outset that the 5-percent banks would be acquired outright by C&S as soon as the law permitted. From at least 1965 on, the 5-percent banks used the C&S logogram on their buildings, papers, and correspondence. C&S filed the charter applications of the 5-percent banks
Between 1966 and 1968, the Federal Reserve Board investigated C&S's network of correspondent associate banks. The purpose of the investigation was to determine whether C&S was exerting such control over the 5-percent banks as to require special "approval" of the Federal Reserve Board pursuant to § 3 of the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956, as amended. 12 U. S. C. § 1842. The investigation ended in an "understanding" between the Board's staff and C&S that the "correspondent
In 1970 Georgia amended its banking statutes to permit de jure branching within any county in which a bank already had an office. Ga. Code Ann. 13-203.1 (a) (Supp. 1974). This allowed C&S National to branch into those Atlanta suburbs which—like the city of Atlanta—are within the confines of DeKalb and Fulton Counties. C&S decided to convert the six 5-percent banks at issue here into de jure branches. C&S applied to the FDIC for permission to acquire all of the assets, and to assume all of the liabilities, of the 5-percent banks.
The FDIC noted that the C&S system was the largest commercial banking institution in Fulton County and in DeKalb County.
II. The Suit in the District Court
On November 2, 1971, within the 30-day period prescribed for such suits, 12 U. S. C. §§ 1828 (c) (6) and (7),
As to the Sherman Act allegations, the District Court based its judgment upon two separate and independent grounds. First, it held that the 1968 "understanding" between the staff of the Federal Reserve Board and C&S insulated the correspondent associate relationship between C&S and the 5-percent banks from attack under the antitrust laws. Id., at 627. The court based this conclusion on the following statement in Whitney Bank v. New Orleans Bank, 379 U.S. 411, 419:
Alternatively, assuming the Sherman Act applied, the District Court found that the United States had failed to prove that the correspondent associate relationships involved "collusive price fixing" or "any agreements not to compete or for market division."
The Government had conceded that it was no violation of the Sherman Act for a large city bank to arrange a traditional "correspondent" relationship with a smaller,
Turning to the claim under § 7 of the Clayton Act, the court found that the various defendant banks were each "engaged in commerce" and that the relevant "line of commerce" was "commercial banking." The court declined, however, to define the appropriate geographic markets, stating that its "disposition of the case is based upon factors which make a precise delineation of the market area unnecessary." 372 F. Supp., at 629. Simply assuming the correctness of the Government's position that the appropriate markets were DeKalb County, Fulton County, North Fulton County, or the Atlanta area generally, the court made detailed findings as to the effect of the proposed acquisitions on C&S's nominal market shares. Id., at 629-633.
III. The Issues Under the Sherman and Clayton Acts
It is common ground in this case that the 5-percent banks have been operated from the outset substantially as de facto branches of C&S, even though they are and have always been separate corporate entities. From these agreed-upon facts, the parties draw sharply divergent conclusions under the Sherman and Clayton Acts.
Section 1 of the Sherman Act, 15 U. S. C. § 1, provides:
The Government contends that the relationships between C&S and the six 5-percent banks constituted unreasonable restraints of trade on two alternative theories: (1) The relationships encompassed an agreement to fix interest rates and service charges among the 5-percent banks, and between these banks and C&S-owned banks, resulting in a "per se" violation of the Sherman Act (2) The programs unreasonably restrained interbank competition, as to prices and services, by extending interbank cooperation far beyond the conventional "correspondent" arrangements which large city banks traditionally make with small banks in outlying markets. C&S denies that its relationships with the 5-percent banks encompassed any agreements to fix prices and contends that the process of de facto branching was a procompetitive response to Georgia's anticompetitive ban on de jure branching, and thus legal under the Sherman
Section 7 of the Clayton Act, 15 U. S. C. § 18, provides:
The Government argues that the acquisitions of the five suburban banks approved by the FDIC would "lessen" competition when compared to what the situation would be if the defendant banks ceased their alleged
A. The Sherman Act Issues
1. The Question of Immunity
The District Court thought the correspondent associate programs immune from Sherman Act scrutiny because they were subject to the "exclusive primary jurisdiction" of the Federal Reserve Board under the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956, as amended. We do not so understand the law. The court relied on Whitney Bank v. New Orleans Bank, 379 U.S. 411, but the question in that case was the wholly different one of whether it is the Comptroller of the Currency or the
The statutory scheme requires the "prior approval" of the Federal Reserve Board for certain transactions by bank holding companies—including transactions tending to create or enlarge holding company control of independent banks. 12 U. S. C. § 1842 (a).
C&S can draw no consolation from these provisions. It is true that the staff of the Federal Reserve Board, in 1968, came to an "understanding" with C&S that the correspondent associate programs then in effect did not offend § 3 of the Bank Holding Company Act, 12 U. S. C. § 1842 (a), and thus did not require formal Board "approval."
We note, however, that the 1966 amendments also added a "grandfather" provision to the Bank Holding Company Act, 12 U. S. C. § 1849 (d):
Unlike § 1849 (b), this provision does not state or imply that the covered transactions must have received the formal approval of the Federal Reserve Board. This grandfather provision is not, like § 1849 (b), an attempt to accommodate the competing jurisdictions of the Federal Reserve Board under § 1842 and the Justice Department under the antitrust laws. Rather, the grandfather provision is a simple conferral of legislative amnesty for
The transactions by which C&S created a correspondent associate relationship with three of the 5-percent banks—the Sandy Springs, Chamblee, and Tucker banks—were consummated prior to July 1966, and the Attorney General had taken no action against those transactions by that date. Those transactions thus fall within the terms of the grandfather provision, and the correspondent associate programs in force at those three banks are, therefore, immune from attack under § 1 of the Sherman Act.
While the formation by C&S of a de facto branch was a unique type of transaction, it may fairly be characterized as an "acquisition, merger, or consolidation of the kind described in § 1842 (a)." Forming a de facto branch was a multifaceted operation—involving a multiplicity of purchases of stock by a number of parties, the adoption of the C&S logogram by the de facto branch, the connection of the de facto branch with C&S personnel and information programs, the structuring of the bank to receive and administer all C&S banking services, and the establishment of formal C&S influence over the board of directors at the de facto branch. But even before its scope was expanded in 1970, § 1842 (a) was concerned with more than the literal "acquisition" of stock: It took broad account of the "indirect" control of stock, and the control of boards of directors "in any manner," by bank holding companies.
Whether these programs violated § 1842 (a)—as it applies today or as it applied when the programs began —is not relevant to our inquiry.
2. De Facto Branching Under the Sherman Act
Three of the 5-percent banks—the Park National, South DeKalb, and North Fulton banks—were formed after July 1, 1966, and their correspondent associate relationships with C&S are therefore beyond the reach of the grandfather provision of the Bank Holding Company Act and subject to scrutiny under the Sherman Act.
Each of these banks was founded ab initio through the sponsorship of C&S. Except for that sponsorship, they would very probably not exist. The record shows that other banking organizations had been unsuccessful in attempting to launch new banks in the area, and C&S affiliation and financial backing were instrumental in convincing state and federal banking authorities to charter these new banks. In short, these banks represented a policy by C&S of de facto branching through the formation of new banking units, rather than through the acquisition, and consequent elimination, of pre-existing, independent banks.
Of necessity, the Government's attack on this process
It is, of course, conceded that C&S's de facto branches have not behaved as active competitors with respect either to each other or to C&S National and its majority-owned affiliates. But the Government goes further and contends that the correspondent associate programs have actually encompassed at least a tacit agreement to fix interest rates and service charges, see Interstate Circuit, Inc. v. United States, 306 U.S. 208, 227; United States v. Masonite Corp., 316 U.S. 265, 275-276; United States v. Bausch & Lomb Optical Co., 321 U.S. 707, 723; United States v. General Motors Corp., 384 U.S. 127,
C&S did regularly notify the 5-percent banks—as it did its de jure branches—of the interest rates and service charges in force at C&S National and its affiliates. But the dissemination of price information is not itself a per se violation of the Sherman Act. See Maple Flooring Assn. v. United States, 268 U.S. 563; Cement Mfrs. Protective Assn. v. United States, 268 U.S. 588; United States v. Container Corp., 393 U.S. 333, 338 (concurring opinion). A few of the memoranda distributed by C&S could be construed as advocating price uniformity; on the other hand, the memoranda were almost without exception stamped "for information only," and the 5-percent banks were admonished by C&S, several times and very clearly, to use their own judgment in setting prices; indeed, the banks were warned that the antitrust laws required no less. The District Court observed that in fact prices did not often vary significantly among the 5-percent banks or between these banks and C&S National, but the court attributed this to the "natural deference of the recipient to information from one with greater expertise or better services." 372 F. Supp., at 628. And the court found as a fact that there was no "collusive price fixing." Id., at 626.
Were we dealing with independent competitors having no permissible reason for intimate and continuous cooperation and consultation as to almost every facet of doing business, the evidence adduced here might well preclude a finding that the parties were not engaged in a
The Government argues, alternatively, that the correspondent associate programs have gone far beyond conventional "correspondent" relationships, and that consequently these programs have "unreasonably" restrained competition among the 5-percent banks and between these banks and C&S National. The District Court was not persuaded by this theory:
The court's dilemma is understandable, for in neither law nor banking custom has there developed a clear, fixed definition of the correspondent relationship:
Among the services typically provided within a conventional correspondent arrangement are check clearing, help with bill collections, participation in large loans, legal advice, help in building securities portfolios, counselling as to personnel policies, staff training, help in site selection, auditing, and the provision of electronic data processing. Furthermore, like C&S's program, the correspondent arrangement is often established as a prelude to a formal merger between the two banks.
Nevertheless, C&S's program does appear to have gone several steps beyond conventional correspondent arrangements.
The central message of the Sherman Act is that a business entity must find new customers and higher profits through internal expansion—that is, by competing successfully rather than by arranging treaties with its competitors. This Court has held that even commonly owned firms must compete against each other, if they hold themselves out as distinct entities. "The corporate interrelationships of the conspirators . . . are not determinative of the applicability of the Sherman Act." United States v. Yellow Cab Co., 332 U.S. 218, 227. See also Kiefer-Stewart Co. v. Joseph E. Seagram & Sons,
But these general principles do not dispose of the present case. C&S was absolutely restrained by state law from reaching the suburban market through the preferred process of internal expansion. De facto branching was the closest available substitute.
To characterize these relationships as an unreasonable restraint of trade is to forget that their whole purpose and effect were to defeat a restraint of trade. Georgia's antibranching law amounted to a compulsory market division. Accomplished through private agreement, market division is a per se offense under the Sherman Act:
The obvious purpose and effect of a rigid antibranching law are to make the potential bank customers of suburban, small town, and rural areas a captive market for small unit banks.
The Government suggests that a "conventional" correspondent relationship between C&S and the 5-percent banks would have been equally procompetitive and would have had the added virtue of facilitating competition among the 5-percent banks and between them and C&S National. This is mere speculation on the present record. Moreover, it is far from clear that a conventional correspondent relationship would have allowed C&S to put its full range of services into the suburban market which, in light of the antibranching law, was the very point of its policy and program. Putting to one side the total lack of realism in suggesting that C&S might have founded new banks that would have competed vigorously with it and with each other, cf. United States v. Penn-Olin Chemical Co., 378 U.S. 158, 169, the Government's argument wholly disregards C&S's ultimate goal of acquiring the new banks outright as soon as legally possible, a goal which the Government last year thought wholly proper. We hold that, in the face of the stringent state restrictions on
B. The Clayton Act Claim
In the light of the previous discussion, disposition of the Clayton Act claim becomes relatively straight-forward. The issue under § 7 of the Clayton Act is whether the effect of the proposed acquisitions, approved by the FDIC, "may be substantially to lessen competition . . . in any line of commerce in any section of the country."
The Government established that C&S is the predominant banking institution in DeKalb County, Fulton County, North Fulton County, and the Atlanta area generally; that in these markets the commercial banking industry is quite highly concentrated in terms of market share statistics; and, of course, that the proposed acquisitions would increase C&S's nominal market shares.
As to present and past competition, the Government agrees there is and has been none. If this state of affairs were the result of violations of the Sherman Act, we agree with the Government that making the evil permanent through acquisition or merger would offend the Clayton Act. See Citizen Publishing Co. v. United States, 394 U.S. 131, 135. But we have already concluded that C&S's program of founding and maintaining new de facto branches in the face of Georgia's antibranching law did not violate the Sherman Act, and the de facto branches which C&S proposes to acquire were all founded ab initio with C&S sponsorship. It thus indisputably follows that the proposed acquisitions will extinguish no present competitive conduct or relationships. See United States v. Trans Texas Bancorporation, 412 U.S. 946, aff'g per curiam 1972 Trade Cas. ¶ 74,257 (WD Tex.).
As for future competition, neither the District Court nor the FDIC could find any realistic prospect that denial of these acquisitions would lead the defendant banks to compete against each other. The 5-percent banks theoretically could break their ties with C&S and its correspondent associate program, for these banks are each independently owned, but the record shows that none of the shareholders, directors, or officers of the 5-percent banks expressed any inclination to do so, and there was no evidence that the program has been other than beneficial and profitable for both C&S and the 5-percent
For the reasons set out in this opinion, the judgment of the District Court is affirmed.
It is so ordered.
APPENDIX TO OPINION OF THE COURT
The District Court summarized the structure of various banking markets in the Atlanta area, and the statistical effects of the proposed acquisitions, in the following way, 372 F. Supp., at 629-632:
DeKalb County
Treating C&S National, C&S Emory and C&S DeKalb as one banking organization, there are 19 commercial banking organizations operating offices in DeKalb
IPC Total Total Demand Deposits Loans Deposits Banks (12/31/71) (12/31/71) (6/30/72) _____ __________ __________ _________ Top 2............. 38.3% 42.7% 34.8% Top 3............. 51.8% 52.4% 47.3% Top 4............. 62.9% 61.8% 58.2%
C&S (offices of C&S National in DeKalb County, C&S Emory and C&S DeKalb) accounts for the following shares of total deposits, total loans and total IPC demand deposits held by all banking offices located in DeKalb County.
IPC Total Total Demand Deposits Loans Deposits Bank (12/31/71) (12/31/71) (6/30/72) ____ __________ __________ _________ C&S ............... 24.1% 28.5% 20.1%
Chamblee, Park National and South DeKalb, all of whose banking offices are located in DeKalb County, account for the following shares of total deposits, total loans and total IPC demand deposits held by all banking offices located in DeKalb County:
IPC Total Total Demand Deposits Loans Deposits Banks (12/31/71) (12/31/71) (6/30/72) _____ __________ __________ _________ Chamblee ........... 5.7% 5.7% 5.9% Park National....... 2.9% 1.5% 3.0% South DeKalb........ 1.8% 2.5% 1.9% _____ ____ ____ 10.4% 9.7% 10.8%
Depending on the unit of measurement, Chamblee is the third or fourth largest bank headquartered in DeKalb County.
If the proposed mergers were approved, the C&S system (which would include offices of C&S National and South DeKalb) would account for 34.5% of the total deposits of all the banking offices located in DeKalb County, 38.2% of the total loans and 30.9% of the total IPC demand deposits. C&S would also be acquiring the third (or fourth) largest bank headquartered in DeKalb County.
If the proposed mergers were approved, the four largest banks would account for the following shares of the DeKalb County market:
IPC Total Demand Banks Deposits Loans Deposits _____ ________ ______ _________ Top 2 after mergers.. 48.7% 52.4% 45.6% Top 3 after mergers.. 62.2% 62.1% 58.1% Top 4 after mergers.. 73.3% 71.5% 69.0%
Thus, if the proposed mergers were approved, the C&S system's share of total deposits, for example, would increase from about 24% to 34%, or an increase of about 40%. The share of total deposits accounted for by the top 4 banks would increase from about 63% to 73%, while that of the top 2 and top 3 banks would increase from 38% to 49% and from 52% to 62%, respectively.
North Fulton County
There are nine commercial banks operating offices in North Fulton County. In terms of total deposits and total IPC demand deposits held by all banking offices located in North Fulton County, the top 4 banks, respectively, are Sandy Springs, Roswell Bank, Fulton Exchange Bank and North Fulton. On June 30, 1970, however, there were only five banks operating offices in North Fulton County: the four banks just mentioned and Trust Company of Georgia Bank of Sandy Springs, which is now a branch of Trust Company of Georgia. The shares of total deposits and IPC demand deposits accounted for by the four largest banks are as follows:
IPC IPC Demand Demand Total Deposits Deposits Deposits Banks (6/30/72) (6/30/70) (6/30/70) _____ __________ __________ _________ Top 2............ 57.8% 66.4% 64.0% Top 3............ 70.1% 78.9% 80.2% Top 4............ 80.3% 90.7% 91.9%
As of June 30, 1972, the North Springs Office of C&S East Point accounted for 1.7% of total IPC demand deposits held by all banking offices located in North Fulton County.
As of June 30, 1972, Sandy Springs and North Fulton accounted for 36.4% and 10.2%, respectively, of total IPC demand deposits held by all banking offices located in North Fulton County. As of June 30, 1970, they accounted for 34.4% and 11.7%, respectively, of total deposits held by all commercial banking offices located in North Fulton County.
If the proposed mergers were approved, the C&S system (which would include C&S East Point's North Springs Office. North Fulton and Sandy Springs) would
IPC Demand Banks Deposits _____ ________ Top 2 after mergers................................ 69.7% Top 3 after mergers................................ 82.0% Top 4 after mergers................................ 92.0%
Thus, if the proposed mergers were approved, the C&S system's
Fulton County
Treating C&S National and C&S East Point as one banking organization, there are 18 commercial banking organizations operating offices in Fulton County. In terms of total loans, deposits and IPC demand deposits held
IPC Total Total Demand Loans Deposits Deposits Banks (12/31/71) (12/31/71) (6/30/72) _____ __________ __________ _________ Top 2.............. 63.0% 55.2% 61.3% Top 3.............. 78.8% 73.9% 78.1% Top 4.............. 89.4% 87.0% 88.8%
C&S (offices of C&S National in Fulton County and C&S East Point) accounts for the following shares of total loans, deposits and IPC demand deposits held by all banking offices located in Fulton County:
IPC Total Total Demand Loans Deposits Deposits Bank (12/31/71) (12/31/71) (6/30/72) ____ _________ __________ _________ C&S ............... 37.2% 30.8% 32.1%
Sandy Springs and North Fulton, both of whose banking offices are located in Fulton County, account for the following shares of total loans, deposits and IPC demand deposits held by all banking offices located in Fulton County:
IPC Total Total Demand Loans Deposits Deposits Banks (12/31/71) (12/31/71) (6/30/72) _____ __________ __________ _________ Sandy Springs........ .7% .8% .9% North Fulton......... .3% .3% .3% _____ _____ _____ 1.0% 1.1% 1.2%
If the proposed mergers were approved, the C&S system (which would include offices of C&S National in Fulton County, C&S East Point, Sandy Springs and North Fulton) would account for 38.2% of the total loans held by all banking offices in Fulton County, 31.9% of the total deposits and 33.3% of the total IPC demand deposits.
If the proposed mergers were approved, the four largest banks would account for the following shares in Fulton County:
IPC Total Total Demand Banks Loans Deposits Deposits _____ ________ _________ _________ Top 2 after mergers.. 64.0% 56.3% 62.5% Top 3 after mergers.. 79.8% 75.0% 79.3% Top 4 after mergers.. 90.4% 88.1% 90.0%
Atlanta Area
Treating C&S National, C&S Emory, C&S DeKalb and C&S East Point as one banking organization, there are 31 commercial banking organizations operating offices in the Atlanta area, six of which operate offices in both Fulton and DeKalb Counties. In terms of total loans, deposits, and IPC demand deposits held by all banking offices located in the Atlanta area, the top 4 banks, respectively, are C&S (offices of C&S National, C&S East Point, C&S Emory and C&S DeKalb), First National Bank of Atlanta, Trust Company of Georgia and Fulton National Bank. The shares of total loans, deposits and IPC demand deposits accounted for by the four largest banks are as follows:
IPC Total Total Demand Loans Deposits Deposits Banks (12/31/71) (12/31/71) (6/30/72) _____ __________ __________ __________ Top 2.............. 60.5% 53.2% 58.0% Top 3.............. 76.2% 71.3% 74.3% Top 4.............. 86.7% 84.2% 85.0%
C&S (offices of C&S National, C&S Emory, C&S East Point and C&S DeKalb) accounts for the following shares of total loans, deposits and IPC demand deposits held by all banking offices located in the Atlanta area:
IPC Total Total Demand Loans Deposits Deposits Bank (12/31/71) (12/31/71) (6/30/72) ____ __________ ___________ __________ C&S ................. 36.4% 30.0% 30.6%
Chamblee, Park National, South DeKalb, Sandy Springs and North Fulton account for the following shares of total loans deposits and IPC demand deposits held by all banking offices located in the Atlanta area:
IPC Total Total Demand Loans Deposits Deposits Banks (12/31/71) (12/31/71) (6/30/72) _____ __________ ___________ __________ Chamblee ............ .5% .6% .8% Park National ....... .1% .3% .4% South DeKalb ........ .2% .2% .3% Sandy Springs ....... .6% .7% .8% North Fulton ........ .3% .2% .2% _____ _____ _____ 1.7% 2.0% 2.5%
If their deposits (as of 12/31/71) were combined ($71,142,252), these five banks would be the equivalent of the sixth largest banking organization in the Atlanta area. Sandy Springs and Chamblee are, alone, the tenth and eleventh largest banking organizations in the Atlanta area, respectively.
If the proposed mergers were approved, the four largest banks would account for the following shares in the Atlanta area:
IPC Total Total Demand Banks Loans Deposits Deposits _____ _________ __________ _________ Top 2 after mergers.. 62.2% 55.2% 60.5% Top 3 after mergers.. 77.9% 73.3% 76.8% Top 4 after mergers.. 88.4% 86.2% 87.5%
MR. JUSTICE BRENNAN, with whom MR. JUSTICE DOUGLAS and MR. JUSTICE WHITE join, dissenting.
I agree that the District Court erred in holding that the correspondent associate programs are immune from Sherman Act scrutiny because they are subject to the "exclusive primary jurisdiction" of the Federal Reserve Board under the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956, as amended. The District Court also erred, however, in holding that the United States did not prove the violations of § 1 of the Sherman Act, and § 7 of the Clayton Act, alleged, and I therefore dissent from the affirmance of its judgment.
The issues under the Clayton and Sherman Acts, while logically independent, are related; both present the question whether a large commercial bank, already possessing
I. The Sherman Act
The "5-percent" banks in this litigation entered into a relationship with C&S far exceeding that of "correspondent banking," the provision of check clearance, investment advice, personnel training, or other specialized services in arm's-length transactions.
A
The Court concludes that antitrust scrutiny of the affiliation of three 5-percent banks is foreclosed by the grandfather provision of § 11 (d) of the Bank Holding Company Act, 12 U. S. C. § 1849 (d). That holding is plainly a distorted expansion of § 11 (d) beyond its language and purpose.
The concept of an amnesty for unchallenged structural arrangements in commercial banking first appeared
A few months after enactment of the Bank Merger Act amendments, the "antitrust" provisions were written almost verbatim into the Bank Holding Company Act. Unlike their Merger Act counterparts, the 1966 amendments to the Bank Holding Company Act were not principally addressed to integrating antitrust standards with the regulatory process, but rather to expanding the Federal Reserve Board's jurisdiction and regulatory powers. The antitrust provisions of the Holding Company Act amendments received little legislative attention; the brief reference to them in the legislative history indicates that their purpose
Because of congressional preoccupation with the regulatory features of the 1966 amendments to the Bank Holding Company Act, interpretation of the antitrust provisions may involve as much an attribution of congressional intent as a discernment of it. This is particularly the case with respect to § 11 (d), which was transplanted from one regulatory statute to another with seemingly scant attention to the differences in the regulatory environment. Objections that grandfathering holding company acquisitions posed policy questions different from the retroactive immunization of mergers were quickly brushed aside,
The grandfather provision of the Bank Merger Act amendments most assuredly did not provide sanctuary
Against the foregoing background, we confront the language of the counterpart in the Bank Holding Company Act. As enacted in 1966, § 11 (d) shielded an "acquisition, merger, or consolidation of the kind described in § 3 (a) of this Act." Section 3 (a) provided then, as today, that:
Section 3 (a) is thus the operative provision of the statute permitting the Federal Reserve Board to regulate the events therein described.
By "grandfathering" an "acquisition, merger, or consolidation of the kind described in § 3 (a)," Congress obviously exempted from antitrust challenge only the events for which Board approval would have been required. None of the transactions defined by § 3 (a), however, includes those features of the "correspondent associate" relationship that the Government is challenging under Sherman Act § 1 in this case. Clauses (4) and (5) of § 3 (a) refer, respectively, to an acquisition of assets and a merger of two holding companies. Clause (3) refers to ownership of voting stock by a holding company; the stock ownership by C&S is not, however, the salient feature of the affiliative relationship and indeed is not challenged in this case. Clauses (1) and (2) address the creation of a holding company-subsidiary relationship.
In establishing its "correspondent associates" C&S did not engage in the transactions described by § 3 (a) in 1966 and therefore sheltered by § 11 (d). Indeed, because of state-law restrictions C&S could not resort to the methods described by § 3 (a) of the Holding Company Act and turned instead to more informal arrangements, including "understandings." While the functional equivalent of a holding company-subsidiary relationship could perhaps be created through informal affiliation, § 3 (a), at least until quite recently, has been
Arguably, the Board's interpretation would now bring within § 3 the affiliation of the 5-percent banks with C&S. But the Board's interpretation is based upon recent legislation expanding the reach of the Board's regulatory authority.
The conclusion that Congress had traditionally not brought informal arrangements within § 3 (a) was reinforced by the provisions of § 4 (a) (2) of the original Act, 70 Stat. 135, which forbade a bank holding company to
This provision was enacted in 1956, and as early as 1960 the Board by regulation interpreted "services" to include many of the functions C&S has performed for the 5-percent banks. Included in the Board's interpretation are: "(1) [e]stablishment and supervision of loaning policies; (2) direction of the purchase and sale of investment securities; (3) selection and training of officer personnel; (4) establishment and enforcement of operating policies; and (5) general supervision over all policies and practices." 12 CFR § 225.113 (1975). The differentiation of these activities from "control or management" and their inclusion in § 4 of the Act rather than in § 3 vividly exposes the fallacy of today's holding invoking § 11 (d) to foreclose scrutiny of the "correspondent associate" relationship of three of the 5-percent banks. Since § 11 (d) shielded only the events then described in § 3 (a), the conclusion is compelled that all the 5-percent banks are properly before us on the Sherman Act counts.
B
The District Court found that there were no express agreements among the defendant banks to fix prices or divide markets that would call for application of the per se rule, United States v. Socony-Vacuum Oil Co., 310 U.S. 150 (1940); United States v. Sealy, Inc., 388 U.S. 350 (1967), but it also found that the effect of the association was to eliminate all competition among the banks involved.
The Court finds the restraints embodied in the "correspondent associate" relationship reasonable because of state-law restrictions that blocked, for a time, the avenue of internal expansion by C&S. If the question before us were the lawfulness of these arrangements at their inception, this solution might be satisfactory. The question would be a close one, however, calling for a delicate balancing of the immediate benefits of expanded banking services against the more distant, but nevertheless real, danger of permitting the restraints necessary to circumvent de jure barriers to expansion to continue longer than the conditions that justified them. The inquiry would, of course, have to take into account the possibility that expansion would occur under less restrictive conditions. New entry by an unaffiliated bank
The issue in this case, however, is not whether the affiliation of the 5-percent banks was lawful at its inception, but whether it could lawfully continue, for the Government sought only an injunction. By the time the Government brought suit, Georgia law permitted
Certainly it is open to C&S to argue that no rational banker would sponsor a de facto branch unless assured that the resulting relationships could continue in perpetuity. But this sort of argument has seldom carried the day in this Court, see United States v. Sealy, supra; United States v. Topco Associates, supra, and I do not find it persuasive in this case. A bank hemmed in by state antibranching restrictions will presumably find it profitable to take a small stock interest in an independent bank, to offer assistance and thereby attempt to win consumer loyalty through an expanded use of its own name. C&S presumably found these arrangements
This case, therefore, does not present an occasion for consideration whether the restraints incident to "de facto branching" are lawful when undertaken in response to a prohibition of de jure branching, a position the Court says the Government took last Term in United States v. Marine Bancorporation, 418 U.S. 602 (1974). The restraints incident to the affiliation of the 5-percent banks with C&S must be examined in light of conditions prevailing at the time of suit, which include the ability of C&S to branch freely in the Atlanta suburbs.
The arrangements between C&S and the 5-percent banks resemble a "common brand" marketing agreement or a franchising arrangement in which the franchisor
Despite the acceptability generally of common-brand
The situation here fails to satisfy the test. The combined shares of C&S and the 5-percent banks are substantial under any of the alternative definitions of the geographic market cited by the Court. Ante, at 122-130.
II. The Clayton Act
The Court concedes that under our prior decisions the Government has established a prima facie case under § 7. Ante, at 120. But the Court affirms the District Court's determination that the acquisitions add nothing
If not acquired, the 5-percent banks have the power to break their ties with C&S, and the likelihood that any would do so may be expected to increase as the demand for their services grows and as their managements acquire additional business experience. However risky these ventures may have been at their inception, the recent performance of the 5-percent banks attests to their present viability.
The foregoing are not "ephemeral possibilities," Brown Shoe Co. v. United States, 370 U.S. 294, 323 (1962), that antitrust analysis should ignore. Section 7 was intended, as we have repeatedly said, to "arrest anticompetitive tendencies in their `incipiency.' " United States v. Philadelphia National Bank, 374 U. S., at 362. In applying the § 7 standards, we are obliged to hold acquisitions unlawful if a reasonable likelihood of a substantial lessening of competition under future conditions is discernible. E. g., United States v. Continental Can Co., 378 U.S. 441, 458 (1964); FTC v. Procter & Gamble Co., 386 U.S. 568, 577 (1967); United States v. Falstaff Brewing Corp., 410 U.S. 526, 539 (1973) (DOUGLAS, J., concurring in part). While inquiry as to future market conditions and performance inevitably involves speculation, fidelity to the
My Brother WHITE reminded us in his dissent last Term in United States v. Marine Bancorporation, 418 U. S., at 653:
Today's decision permits C&S, the dominant commercial bank in Atlanta, further to entrench its position. Two other rivals, which together with C&S control more than 75% of the banking business in Atlanta, may now be expected to follow suit, acquiring their own "de facto branches."
FootNotes
The Citizens and Southern Bank of Tucker (two offices), in DeKalb County, was independently founded in 1919, as the Bank of Tucker. C&S Holding acquired 5-percent ownership in 1965, and the bank then adopted its present name. This bank is involved in only the Sherman Act phase of this case. Its proposed acquisition by C&S was forbidden by the FDIC.
"The Government contends that the following aspects of the relationships between the defendants have restrained interstate trade and commerce:
"1. The routine and systematic practice of furnishing to one another comprehensive information as to past, present and future competitive practices and policies with a purpose of achieving uniformity among the defendants;
"2. The provision by C&S National to the five percent defendants of various manuals and memoranda;
"3. The provision by C&S National to the five percent defendants of suggestions and advice on such matters as rates, hours of operation, types of loan to discourage and minimum loan rates . . . .
"The Government also asserts, and the record shows, that the advice and suggestions offered by C&S National are generally followed.
"These activities, however, do not amount to collusive price fixing. For example, there is no suggestion that any advice as to rates amounts to more than an expert appraisal of a market situation from the point of view of a lending institution—a type of opinion to which a lending institution would naturally be expected to pay great attention. . . .
"The practices involved here do not conform to the accepted definition or description of per se antitrust violations where no resort to context or circumstances is required (or permitted).
.....
"There is no evidence of record to conclude that the utilization by the five percent defendant banks of the services or information received by them from C&S National or C&S Holding was a result of any tacit or explicit combinations rather than the natural deference of the recipient to information from one with greater expertise or better sources. In either case there is the flow of information as to rates, practices, etc., which the Government apparently applauds or at least condones in a correspondent banking relationship." 372 F. Supp., at 626, 627, and 628.
In the interval between the trial and the announcement of the District Court's opinion, the Supreme Court of Georgia had ruled in a separate suit brought by a group of independent suburban banks that C&S was in technical violation of the state bank holding company law with respect to the 5-percent banks in the Atlanta suburbs. Its judgment was grounded on the fact that, in addition to the 5-percent stock interest directly owned by C&S Holding, substantial numbers of shares were owned by C&S officers and directors. The state court accordingly directed the Georgia Banking Commissioner to file suit to force divestiture of excess stock holdings by these shareholders. Independent Bankers Assn. v. Dunn, 230 Ga. 345, 197 S.E.2d 129, modified sub nom. Citizens & Southern National Bank v. Independent Bankers Assn., 231 Ga. 421, 202 S.E.2d 78. The District Court's opinion took notice of this state-court judgment and concluded that it would not lead to genuine competition among the 5-percent banks or between them and C&S. 372 F. Supp., at 643. After the District Court's opinion was announced, the State Banking Commissioner, acting pursuant to the state-court judgment, ordered C&S Holding to limit its direct and indirect interest in the stock of correspondent associate banks to 5 percent and ordered C&S to "terminate any direct or indirect supervision of the . . . five percent banks beyond that which is available from The Citizens and Southern National Bank or the Citizens and Southern Holding Company to any bank that wishes to enter into a correspondent relationship with such bank or holding company." On June 3, 1974, the District Court amended its opinion nunc pro tunc to find that the Banking Commissioner's "order does not change the underlying basis of the Court's decision that the proposed mergers will not substantially lessen competition." Id., at 643 n. 8.
"(a) Nothing herein contained shall be interpreted or construed as approving any act, action, or conduct which is or has been or may be in violation of existing law, nor shall anything herein contained constitute a defense to any action, suit, or proceeding pending or hereafter instituted on account of any prohibited antitrust or monopolistic act, action, or conduct, except as specifically provided in this section.
"(b) The Board shall immediately notify the Attorney General of any approval by it pursuant to section 1842 of this title of a proposed acquisition, merger, or consolidation transaction, and such transaction may not be consummated before the thirtieth calendar day after the date of approval by the Board. Any action brought under the antitrust laws arising out of an acquisition, merger, or consolidation transaction approved under section 1842 of this title shall be commenced within such thirty-day period. The commencement of such an action shall stay the effectiveness of the Board's approval unless the court shall otherwise specifically order. In any such action, the court shall review de novo the issues presented. In any judicial proceeding attacking any acquisition, merger, or consolidation transaction approved pursuant to section 1842 of this title on the ground that such transaction alone and of itself constituted a violation of any antitrust laws other than section 2 of Title 15, the standards applied by the court shall be identical with those that the Board is directed to apply under section 1842 of this title. Upon the consummation of an acquisition, merger, or consolidation transaction approved under section 1842 of this title in compliance with this chapter and after the termination of any antitrust litigation commenced within the period prescribed in this section, or upon the termination of such period if no such litigation is commenced therein, the transaction may not thereafter be attacked in any judicial proceeding on the ground that it alone and of itself constituted a violation of any antitrust laws other than section 2 of Title 15, but nothing in this chapter shall exempt any bank holding company involved in such a transaction from complying with the antitrust laws after the consummation of such transaction.
"(c) In any action brought under the antitrust laws arising out of any acquisition, merger, or consolidation transaction approved by the Board under section 1842 of this title, the Board and any State banking supervisory agency having jurisdiction within the State involved, may appear as a party of its own motion and as of right, and be represented by its counsel.
"(d) Any acquisition, merger, or consolidation of the kind described in section 1842 (a) of this title which was consummated at any time prior or subsequent to May 9, 1956, and as to which no litigation was initiated by the Attorney General prior to July 1, 1966, shall be conclusively presumed not to have been in violation of any antitrust laws other than section 2 of Title 15.
"(e) Any court having pending before it on or after July 1, 1966, any litigation initiated under the antitrust laws by the Attorney General with respect to any acquisition, merger, or consolidation of the kind described in section 1842 (a) of this title shall apply the substantive rule of law set forth in section 1842 of this title.
"(f) For the purposes of this section, the term `antitrust laws' means the Act of July 2, 1890 (the Sherman Antitrust Act), the Act of October 15, 1914 (the Clayton Act), and any other Acts in pari materia."
"The fact finding inquiry undertaken by Board staff into the relationship between Citizens & Southern and the other banking institutions referred to was begun in 1966 and continued into 1968. The principal focus of the inquiry concerned essentially two questions: (1) whether Citizens & Southern had unlawfully acquired a direct or indirect stock ownership in these banking institutions in excess of 5 per cent without first having secured the requisite prior Board approval; and (2) whether the banking institutions had unlawfully become subsidiaries of Citizens & Southern by virtue of the election of directors without first having received the requisite prior Board approval. The inquiry arose in 1966 out of information contained in Citizens & Southern's registration statement filed with the Board and in 1968 as a result of information supplied by the Comptroller of the Currency in connection with the merger of the Citizens and Southern National Bank and the Citizens and Southern Bank of Augusta. The inquiry referred to was not initiated as a result of any application filed with the Board for approval of an acquisition, merger, or consolidation transaction under section 3 of the Bank Holding Company Act.
.....
"The Board of Governors did not issue any order approving the relationships between Citizens & Southern and the other banking institutions under section 3 of the Bank Holding Company Act.
.....
"There was no determination made that approval of the Board under section 3 of the Bank Holding Company Act was required for Citizens & Southern to retain an ownership interest of 5 per cent or less in the banking institutions referred to or to maintain the relationships with those banks in circumstances where Citizens & Southern did not elect a majority of the directors of any such bank. There was an understanding reached between members of the Board's staff and representatives of Citizens & Southern that in those cases where Citizens & Southern purchased 5 per cent or less of the stock of a bank, in some instances furnishing a principal operating officer for such bank, as well as other employee benefits, Citizens & Southern would not be deemed to have control of a majority of the directors of such bank on these facts alone. Further, where the foregoing circumstances existed and where control of additional shares was purchased by the bank's executive officer, control of such shares purchased would not be attributed to Citizens & Southern so long as Citizens & Southern did not finance the purchase of such shares, directly or indirectly. Finally, it was understood that even though Citizens & Southern was responsible, directly or indirectly, in placing one or two directors on the boards of such banks, if that number did not constitute a majority of directors of such bank, the Board's staff would not consider that Citizens & Southern could reasonably be held to have control of a majority of the directors of such bank."
It is true that C&S has recently been ordered by the State Banking Commissioner to trim back its percentage ownership of the suburban banks and to modify, in ways not yet fully clear, its "supervision" of those banks. See n. 11, supra. But the District Court considered this development and concluded that it would not lead to true competition among the defendant banks. The court explicitly found that the changes ordered would not affect the bonds of interbank consultation and cooperation which are at the heart of the correspondent associate program. 372 F. Supp., at 638, 643, and n. 8.
"[C]ommunication, especially when it comes from those at the top of a power hierarchy, tends to facilitate conflict resolution. Perhaps a great deal should not be made of this, but competition is a form of conflict and, in the present context, conflict resolution is a form of restraint on competition." Phillips, Competition, Confusion, and Commercial Banking, 19 J. of Finance 32, 42 (1964).
Since the relationship of C&S to the 5-percent banks goes well beyond ordinary "correspondent banking," this case does not present an occasion for further examination of the lawfulness of these more limited interconnections among firms.
"For the purposes of this Act—
"(1) shares owned or controlled by any subsidiary of a bank holding company shall be deemed to be indirectly owned or controlled by such bank holding company;
"(2) shares held or controlled directly or indirectly by trustees for the benefit of (A) a company, (B) the shareholders or members of a company, or (C) the employees (whether exclusively or not) of a company, shall be deemed to be controlled by such company; and
"(3) shares transferred after January 1, 1966, by any bank holding company (or by any company which, but for such transfer, would be a bank holding company) directly or indirectly to any transferee that is indebted to the transferor, or has one or more officers, directors, trustees, or beneficiaries in common with or subject to control by the transferor, shall be deemed to be indirectly owned or controlled by the transferor unless the Board, after opportunity for hearing, determines that the transferor is not in fact capable of controlling the transferee."
This provision was added by the 1966 amendments to adopt interpretations previously made by the Board. S. Rep. No. 1179, supra, at 8.
Whether the 5-percent banks would have been formed at all had their principals expected the Clayton Act to bar ultimate acquisition by C&S is a different question. I am not troubled by it for essentially the same reasons that have led me to conclude above that enjoining continuation of correspondent associate relationships would not deter sponsorship of de facto branches under state-law restrictions on de jure branching. See supra, at 143-144.
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