Capital Briefs: Texas Banking Commissioner Resigns

Catherine A. Ghiglieri resigned Wednesday as Texas banking commissioner, effective June 30.

Ms. Ghiglieri plans to start a corporate consulting business, Ghiglieri & Co., in Austin, Tex. Her deputy, Randall S. James, is to be acting banking commissioner until a permanent successor is named.

During her seven-year tenure, Ms. Ghiglieri defended Texas' ban on interstate branching. Her department unsuccessfully sued the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency in 1997 in an attempt to prevent NationsBank Corp. from operating its Texas franchise as branches of the Charlotte, N.C.-based bank.

Under Ms. Ghiglieri, Texas also modernized its decades-old banking laws. In 1998, for example, it dropped its 157-year-old ban on home equity loans.

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