United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

Investment Co. Inst. v. Camp, 401 U.S. 617 (1971)

Investment Co. Inst. v. Camp, 401 U.S. 617

No. 61

Argued December 15, 1970

Decided April 5, 1971*

401 U.S. 617

Syllabus

Petitioners in No. 61, an association of open-end investment companies and several individual such companies, attack (1) portions of the Comptroller of the Currency's Regulation 9, purporting to authorize banks to operate collective investment funds, as violative of the Glass-Steagall Banking Act of 1933 and (2) the Comptroller's approval given First National City Bank to operate a collective investment fund. Petitioner in No. 59 seeks review of a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) order exempting that fund from certain provisions of the Investment Company Act of 1940. The District Court concluded in No. 61 that the challenged provisions of Regulation 9 were invalid. The Court of Appeals, after consolidating the cases, held that the Comptroller's and the SEC's actions were consonant with the relevant statutes, and affirmed the SEC's order and reversed the District Court.

Held:

1. Petitioners in No. 61 do not lack standing to challenge whether national banks may legally enter a field in competition with them. Data Processing Service v. Camp, 397 U. S. 150. Pp. 401 U. S. 620-621.

2. The operation of a collective investment fund of the kind approved by the Comptroller, that is in direct competition with the mutual fund industry, involves a bank in the underwriting, issuing, selling, and distributing of securities in violation of §§ 16 and 21 of the Glass-Steagall Act. Pp. 401 U. S. 621-639.

136 U.S.App.D.C. 241, 420 F.2d 83, reversed in No. 61, and vacated in No. 59.

STEWART, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which BLACK, DOUGLAS, BRENNAN, WHITE, and MARSHALL, JJ., joined. HARLAN,

Page 401 U. S. 618

J., post, p. 401 U. S. 639, and BLACKMUN, J., post, p. 401 U. S. 642, filed dissenting opinion. BURGER, C.J., took no part in the consideration or decision of these cases.