Capital Briefs: Leach Presses His Modernization Stance

House Banking Committee Chairman Jim Leach met with Treasury Secretary Robert E. Rubin Monday to make a pitch for narrow banking legislation.

Rep. Leach warned that common ownership of banks and commercial firms poses a risk to taxpayers and would fuel unacceptable levels of corporate consolidation.

Aides to Rep. Leach released few details of Monday's conversation, but the Iowa Republican repeated arguments included in a Jan. 23 letter to the Treasury secretary.

"No consensus has or is likely to emerge on the conglomeration issues which will arise if banking become intertwined with commerce," he wrote in the letter.

The Treasury is currently drafting legislation to modernize financial laws. In previous statements, Treasury Under Secretary John D. Hawke Jr. predicted that the administration would push for affiliation between banks and nonfinancial firms.

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