Bank Holding Company Amendments of 1979

[AI summary unavailable — showing source text] Bank Holding Company Amendments of 1979 - Amends the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956 to prohibit bank mergers or acquisitions by bank holding companies if such transactions would result in a monopoly, furtherance of a combination or conspiracy to monopolize, or substantially lessen competition in any section of the country unless such anticompetitive effects are clearly outweighed in the public interest by the probable effect of the transaction in meeting the convenience and needs of the community to be served. Prohibits such transactions if the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System finds that as a result of such transaction any one bank or holding company will control more than 20 percent of the banking assets held by banks in the States in which such bank or holding company is located. Excepts from such 20 percent prohibition a transaction which the Board finds to be immediately necessary to prevent the probable failure of a bank and that a less anticompetitive alternative is not available. Gives the Board discretion to prohibit such a transaction even if it is not disallowed by any other part of this Act if it is found to have probable adverse effects on competition …