Lawmakers move to overhaul finance law

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. House handed a victory to the nation's $500 billion-a-year financial services industry, passing legislation that would overhaul U.S. banking laws as the industry seeks new marriages of banks, securities and insurance firms.

"It's a recognition that we're living in a new age of finance," said Cory Strupp, head of government relations at J.P. Morgan & Co., said after last night's big 343-86 vote to pass the measure. "This is the law catching up with reality."

The bill would repeal the heart of the 1933 Glass-Steagall Act and the 1956 Bank Holding Company Act and let banks, securities and insurance firms combine.

Citigroup, Merrill Lynch & Co., Aetna Inc., and others spent millions over the last two decades lobbying for repeal of Depression-era laws, and now the House must reconcile its version with a Senate-passed measure, a difficult task.

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