Highlights
                                
                                
   Zions Operating Subsidiary Application to Underwrite and Deal in Municipal
                                Revenue Bonds
                                
                              December 11, 1997
                                
Today  the OCC approved an application under Part 5 of its regulations for
Zions First National Bank, Salt Lake City, Utah, to underwrite and deal in
municipal revenue bonds to a limited extent in an operating subsidiary.

Zions First National Bank was chartered in 1873.  It currently has
approximately $5 billion in assets, and operates in the states of Utah,
Arizona, Nevada, Colorado, California, and Idaho.  The bank is
well-capitalized, and is the only primary U.S.  Government securities dealer
operating between Chicago and California.

This is the first OCC approval under its revised Part 5 rule.  It will permit
a separate subsidiary of a bank to engage in a limited amount of municipal
revenue bond underwriting.

Under part 5 a new activity must be part of, or incidental to, the business
of banking.  This was the case with Zions.

The OCC considered this matter carefully and determined that the law, as well
as safety and soundness considerations, clearly favored approval of the
bank's proposal.  National banks have long-standing experience underwriting
and dealing in general obligation bonds and municipal revenue bonds for
housing, university, and dormitory purposes, and have demonstrated the
ability to perform comparable functions with success.

In addition, national banks may currently invest and trade in municipal
revenue bonds, and may hold these securities for years.  In underwriting
municipal revenue bonds, the subsidiary would generally not hold them for
more than a few days.  National banks have solid experience in managing any
risks associated with these securities.

This approval illustrates the tangible benefits that can flow from financial
modernization.  It will lower borrowing costs for cities and towns.  It will
increase the competition for underwriting services, thereby lowering the fees
charged municipalities when they issue debt obligations.  For some smaller
towns, it will enable the jurisdiction to utilize funding options that are
not currently available because securities firms have found it not
sufficiently profitable to serve the financing needs of some mid-size and
smaller communities.  In short, more competition means better pricing for
municipalities, which  translates into lowers costs for cities and
municipalities and lower taxes for their taxpayers.

The revenue bond activities of the Zions subsidiary will be subject to full
functional regulation by the SEC and the NASD.

The approval does not create safety or soundness problems:

-    Under the approval, a national bank must be well capitalized after
     deducting its investment in the subsidiary from the bank's capital base.
     This means that even if the subsidiary fails, the national bank will
     still be well capitalized, the highest capital rating recognized under
     the banking agencies "prompt corrective action" standards.

-    Sections 23A and 23B of the Federal Reserve Act apply to limit bank
     transactions with the subsidiary.  All extensions of credit must be
     fully collateralized and are limited to a total of 10 percent of the
     bank's capital.

-    The subsidiary must meet all SEC net capital requirements and must have
     adequate internal controls to manage all risks.

-    The bank may not lend to customers to purchase securities during the
     underwriting, and the bank must make all disclosures required under the
     Interagency Statement on Nondeposit Investment Products.

The activity the OCC approved for the Zions subsidiary actually is narrower
than the municipal revenue bond activity that would have been allowed under
H.R. 10, the financial modernization legislation passed by the House Banking
Committee.  The House Banking Committee version of H.R. 10 would not have
limited a bank subsidiary's underwriting and dealing activities to 25 percent
of the subsidiary's revenues.  In fact, the bill as reported by the Banking
Committee permits bank subsidiaries to underwrite any security without
quantitative limitations.

This activity has previously been approved by the Federal Reserve Board for
bank holding company subsidiaries.  This approval permits a national bank
subsidiary to engage in the same activity, and to the same extent, as bank
holding company subsidiaries.  This approval is consistent with the FDIC's
bona fide securities subsidiary rule, under which subsidiaries of state banks
are permitted to engage in general securities underwriting and dealing.

The activity is also narrower than the securities underwriting and dealing
activity allowed under the Federal Reserve Board's Regulation K for
subsidiaries of national banks in foreign markets.