Notwithstanding the name, many national banks do not have nationwide operations. Many have operations in only one city, county, or state. This is because of the McFadden Act of 1927, which prohibited interstate branching by national banks. That restriction was not lifted until Congress enacted the Riegle-Neal Interstate Banking and Branching Efficiency Act of 1994. In August 2021, Chase Bank became the first national bank to establish a retail presence in all 48 states of the contiguous United States.
