These amendments, which are discussed more fully in the Appendix, would among other things:  4  •  Restore the Board's ability to determine that nonbanking activities are "closely related to banking" for purposes of section 4(c)(8) of the Bank Holding Company Act (BHC Act) and, thus, permissible for all bank holding companies to conduct directly or through a nonbank subsidiary (Matrix No.
137(a));  •  Streamline the process for insured banks to acquire savings associations and trust companies in interstate merger transactions (Matrix No. 138);  •  Modify the cross-marketing restrictions that apply to the merchant banking and insurance company investments of financial holding companies (Matrix No.