Yes, Illinois has a unique “wild card” provision. Actually, we have two, one that is fairly typical of what most states have, which is to give Illinois state-chartered banks the same authority as national banks “to do any act” and to carry any property, including stock, as assets. That is Section 5(11) of our Banking Act. The second, which is what you’re interested in, authorizes Illinois state-chartered banks “to offer any product or service that is at the time authorized or permitted to any insured savings association or out-of-state bank by applicable law . . .” subject to certain restrictions and safeguards.  This is Section 5(25) of our Banking Act. (The last paragraph in Section 5(25) was added at the insistence of our state banking department in 2004 so that they could keep abreast of state banks relying on this section, and they have published a number of Interpretive Letters – 1998-09, 1998-10, 1998-11, 1998-12, 2002-02, and 2008-02 – on the subject). Both wild card provisions are highlighted below in yellow.

We were successful in passing this legislation under the rubric of a “Banking on Illinois Act” in the halcyon days of the late 90’s by arguing that we were losing bank headquarters to other states, and this law would be helpful in retaining and attracting bank headquarters.  Together with the “super wild card” in Section 5(25), this legislation also included an actual stand-alone “Banking on Illinois Act” which has proved invaluable over the ensuing years in various lawsuits involving interpretations of the Illinois Banking Act. (The “Findings” section at the beginning of this Act also encapsulated our argument for the underlying bill, which helped from a tactical standpoint.)  I would encourage you to take a good look at that Act as well.

To my knowledge, no other state has been successful in following suit, and to be honest, I seriously doubt whether we would be able to pass this legislation today. Timing and luck may not be everything, but both were very good friends at the time.