Many of the states charter trust companies, which perform in general the functions of commercial banking with some additional functions, such as executing trusts, and guaranteeing titles to land. Some of our largest banks are trust companies. A fourth type of bank, the investment bank, is usually a private institution, which concerns itself primarily in promoting the affairs of large industrial organizations. Such a bank is that of J. P. Morgan and Co. of New York. This bank has had a hand in organizing some of the largest industrial concerns in the country, notably the steel trust. It also takes an active interest in international banking, maintaining branch banks in the more important foreign financial centers.

The Federal Reserve Banking Law, however, authorizes national banks to engage in foreign banking, and some of them, notably the National City Bank of New York, are rapidly developing in this respect.