Bear Stearns

Glass-Steagall Banking Reform Act was important, because it ended the disgraceful epidemic of bank failures.

The Glass-Steagall Act effectively built a Chinese wall between commercial and investment banking wherein the commercial banks were not allowed to trade securities or take part in the insurance business. It also prohibited the commercial banks from payment of interest on demand deposits and from engaging in inter-state operations. The act implemented Regulation Q which put ceilings on the interest rates the banks could pay on their time deposits say savings deposits. Regulation Q prevented the competitive interest rate wars that didn’t allow rates to reach unreasonably high levels. If rates had not been regulated then the banks would have been forced to lend at higher rates to remain profitable which would have led to riskier investments by them and failure problems would have followed. Looking at the evidence we see that from 1930 to 1933 more than 9000 commercial banks failed whereas, from 1934 to 1973 only 641 U.S banks were closed.[1] The act

Investment banking is a field that is still growing and there is still room for improvement and the job prospects are one of the best. However, in the last few years, there have been also some jobs cuts in the industry. For example, as Bloomberg reported, Goldman Sachs

In the U.S., a housing bubble began to emerge just after the turn of the 21st century. In these years, the economy was in great shape, interest rates were low, and consumers were ready to buy, which drove up real

According to the book Security policies and procedures: Principles and practices states, “On November 11, 1999, the Glass-Steagall Act was repealed and the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA) was signed into law by President Bill Clinton. Also known as the Financial Modernization Act of 1999, GLBA effectively repealed the restrictions placed on banks during the six preceding decades, which prevented the merger of banks, stock brokerage companies, and

The federal government reacted to the financial crisis that emerged in 2007 and affected industries in many ways. This crisis caused an economic meltdown that saw a lot of people lose their jobs, homes, and savings. The Federal Reserve implemented several solutions that were designed to improve the liquid assets of the financial institutions and create favorable conditions in financial markets. These solutions resulted in changes to the Federal Reserve's financial records. The solutions were enforced so as to fulfill the Reserve’s objectives on financial policies which involve employment and price inflation.

Shortly after the implementation of the original act in 1933, Senator Glass removed support for part of his own bill due to a study done in that same decade. The research concluded that securities underwritten by non-commercial banks suffered the same consequences as those wrote by commercial banks prior to 1933; thus causing unnecessary harm to an already strained market. His revision to Section 16, which prohibited commercial banks from trading in non-government securities, to once again have the ability to underwrite risky speculative securities. This amendment passed through the Senate, but was ultimately killed in the Congressional process due to a lack of support from President Roosevelt. Glass is not the only opposition the bill saw before it’s repel in 1999. Another adamant opponent to Glass-Steagall has been former President Bill Clinton. It was during this administration that Laurence H. Summers was appointed as Treasury Secretary. Summers then fought for deregulation of the financial safeguards set in place by Glass-Steagall and praised Congress when its replacement, the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, shifted through. Summer’s and Clinton’s criticism, however; is not without a solid standing or reason. The G-S Act allowed banks to face tougher competition from unregulated retail and consumer stores that began to offer a line

The Glass Steagall Act was passed on 1933, which is also known as The Banking Act to tighten regulation on the way banks did their business. This act was written as an emergency measure when about 5,000 banks failed during the Great Depression. Banks mostly failed because of the way they would invest with money. The act prohibits banks from investing money on investments that turn out to be risky. Banks could no longer sell securities or bonds. The act also created Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) to protect the deposits of individuals, which is still used to this date. The FDIC in this era insures your deposits in your bank up to $250,000. This gave the public confidence again to deposit their money in the bank. In 1933

The Glass-Steagall Act came into existence largely due to the stock market crash of 1929 and the Great Depression. The crash and its aftermath caused Americans to lose faith in the banking system. Glass-Steagall attempted to restore the public’s faith in banks by separating commercial banking from investment banking and providing insurance on bank deposits. The Act worked as intended but its effects slowly diminished over the next 67 years and deregulation in the banking industry culminated with the enactment of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act in 1999 by then President Bill Clinton.1 The GLBA gutted Glass-Steagall and ended restrictions on intermingling between commercial and investment banking.1 Many believe the GLBA was a major cause of the financial crisis that erupted in 2008.

The relative successes and failures of that Act are becoming more apparent with time, and the shortcomings are subject to intense partisan criticism. As discussed below, Dodd-Frank seeks to address the highly sensitive and controversial notion that Wall Street banks have been designated by the Federal Reserve as too-big-to-fail. In fact, during the most severe moments of the crisis, the voices of free market proponents could be heard advocating that these troubled big banks, suffering massive losses due to their own bad bets, and if weakened to the point of failure, should be allowed to fail. Hindsight shows that allowing just one to fail, Lehman Brothers, had serious and lasting detrimental effect on the US and global financial system and markets. Had Lehman been saved, it would have been the most effective agent to unwind all of the transactions and trades to which it was a party, and likely in a rapid manner. However, being thrust into bankruptcy, and thereafter receivers were appointed to unwind the business, took months upon months and vast resources to settle Lehman accounts. Had Citibank, Bank of America, Bear Stearns, or AIG been allowed to fail, it may have been possible that the US financial system would have melted down completely. So these super banks, and non-banks, cannot be allowed to fail in crisis, due to the system-wide risk. Notwithstanding, such an implicit assurance, that they will always get a bailout, no matter how toxic

Though in most areas of the country the housing market has rebounded even creating another balloon in the real estate market. Many lessons were taught with the collapse of the housing market. Having purchased my first home in 2015, I found out how selective mortgage lenders are now with providing mortgage loans. The lowering of the interest rate and the increase in employment has help stabilize the economy and revived the housing market. Dokko, Doyle, Kiley et all validated that America strayed too far away from the Thomas Rule when issuing interest rates and when valuing properties.

The banking industry as a whole after the stock market crashed was going bankrupt due to not being able to carry the “bad debt” that was created from using customer money to buy stock. Because the banks were out of money, they were unable to cover customer withdrawals from their bank, causing many bank customers to lose all of their savings. With the uncertainty of the future of the banking industry, many people withdrew all of their savings, which caused more than 9,000 banks to close their doors and go out of business (Kelly). Due to the effects of the Great Depression, and the collapse of the banking industry, the government created regulations to prevent similar failure in the future. For Example, the SEC, (or Securities Exchange Commission), which regulates the sell and trade of stocks, bonds and other investments was created as a result of The Great Depression. The FDIC (or Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation), was created to insure bank accounts so that that the consumer would be protected if the bank were to go out of business (Kelly). The Great Depression's effect on the banking industry led to many useful changes to the banking industry and helped restore confidence in banks in the American people.

Since at least the 1980s, the financial industry wanted the repeal of Glass Steagall (Shanny). The Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 separated commercial and investment banking in the United States. This passed shortly after a series of bank failures and was supposed to restore confidence in the banking system by prohibiting banks from taking excessive risks. Concerned that commercial banking systems were incurring losses from speculative investments, specifically the stock market, they felt that completely prohibiting them from making these investments was the necessary measure to take. This meant that commercial banks were no longer allowed to deal in or underwrite securities, while investment banks were no longer

Extensive research has determined that the banking industry is in an unstable state. The industry’s profits have

In relation to the increase in house’s price, the rise of financial agreements such as mortgage-backed securities (MBS) and collateralized debt obligations (CDO) encouraged investors to invest in the U.S housing market (Krugman, 2009). When housing price declined in the U.S, many financial institutions that borrowed and invested in subprime mortgage reported losses. In addition, the fall of housing price resulted in default and foreclosure and that began to exhaust consumer’s wealth and