The Nation : Reagan Signs Bank Law

President Reagan signed into law legislation to pump money into the troubled savings and loan deposit insurance fund, even though he complained that portions of the comprehensive banking bill were “anti-competitive and anti-consumer.” The Competitive Equality Banking Act will allow the depleted Federal Savings & Loan Insurance Corp., the fund that insures deposits in 3,200 S&Ls;, to borrow up to $10.8 billion over the next three years to subsidize the takeover of failing S&Ls; by healthier institutions. The law requires that consumers’ checks clear quicker, bans creation of new limited-service banks and imposes a moratorium until March 1 on granting banks authority to expand into other services.