BANKING

House Approves Bank Branching Bill: The House approved a bill to revamp decades-old regulations that limit the ability of banks to run branches across state lines, a move that would pave the way for coast-to-coast banking. Similar interstate branching legislation easily cleared the Senate Banking Committee last month and is awaiting a final vote by the full Senate. The Clinton Administration supports the plan. The House bill would permit healthy banks to acquire any bank in any state one year after enactment. After 18 months, banks with subsidiaries around the country could merge them into a unified branch system. State legislatures would have three years to adopt laws that would exempt their state from the plan. And banks could establish branches in any state that allows such a move.