31.   In fact, either the new BancOne or the new BankAmerica-NationsBank could buy more banks and still fall within the law.

32.   In recent deals, an Ecuadorean bank bought a Colombian bank, a Colombian bank bought a Venezuelan bank, and a Chilean bank bought a Bolivian bank.

33.   In recent years, it has sought to buy smaller banks.

34.   Investors are speculating the bank will be bought.

35.   It bought six banks last year and has eight more takeovers pending.

36.   It likely would not allow an industrial company such as General Motors to buy a bank, however.

37.   Many corporations bought their bank shares years ago at much lower prices, Okamura said.

38.   Many of the banks that bought investment banks later merged with other banks, becoming much larger.

39.   More recently, activists have produced studies showing that Fleet reduces lending to disadvantaged borrowers after it buys other banks.

40.   More recently, however, bank executives have decided that buying banks has become too expensive.