La Salle University : The Volcker Rule Case Study

The Glass-Steagall Act (GSA), a part of the Banking Act of 1933 consisting of section 16, 20, 21 and 32 was enacted to correct the crippled financial system in the US. Senator Carter Glass advocated in favour of separation arguing that involvement of commercial banks with corporate securities caused conflict of interest. The GSA prohibited commercial banks or any member of the Federal Reserve from underwriting, trading or holding corporate securities for their own account

With troubling incidents like the stock market crash of 1929, reform was highly necessary to never have a relapse of these events in the future. Historian Allan Nevins says that the New Deal was the epiphany the government needed to possess greater responsibility for the economic welfare of its citizens. It made the government initiate attempts to reorganize the economic turmoil and restore the people’s faith in banking system which was successful with the Emergency Banking Relief Act and Bank Holiday. Congress allotted for the Treasury Department to weed out the unfit banks and reopen the stable banks, significantly lowering bank failures. Especially with measures like the Glass-Steagall Act it offered assurance and insurance to citizens with a compensation of 5,000 dollars in the case of an inconvenience of their bank and since the creation of the FDIC there were no incidents in which a depositor has lost its insured funds. Many of the legislations passed under the Reform point remained for fifty years to prove the reliability and effectiveness like the Securities and Exchange Commission that regulated stock market activities and prevented another large scale crash to occur, keeping the economy at bay. And the Social Security Act of 1935 to reinforce the sensation of

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

The emergency legislation that was passed within days of President Franklin Roosevelt taking office in March 1933 was just the start of the process to restore confidence in the banking system. Congress saw the need for substantial reform of the banking system, which eventually came in the Banking Act of 1933, or the Glass-Steagall Act. The bill was designed “to provide for the safer and more effective use of the assets of banks, to regulate interbank control, to prevent the undue diversion of funds into speculative operations, and for other purposes.” The measure was sponsored by Sen. Carter Glass (D-VA) and Rep. Henry Steagall (D-AL). Glass, a former Treasury secretary, was the primary force behind the act. Steagall, then chairman of the House Banking and Currency Committee, agreed to support the act with Glass after an amendment was added to permit bank deposit insurance.1 On June 16, 1933, President Roosevelt signed the bill into law. Glass originally introduced his banking reform bill in January 1932. It received extensive critiques and comments from bankers, economists, and the Federal Reserve Board. It passed the Senate in February 1932, but the House adjourned before coming to a decision. It was one of the most widely discussed and debated legislative initiatives in 1932.

Sensing that the first three months were most important parts of his administration, which showed the measure of accomplishments of a president, FDR put his plan into action. He first confronted the bank crisis and tried to tackle a banking system that was on the verge of collapsing. The first part of his idea, FDR requested a banking holiday that called for an emergency closing of all banks and halted all bank activities. During this time, FDR called for an emergency congress meeting and passed the Emergency Banking Act that issued urgent funds to banks that had potential and was on the verge of closing. Soon after the congress passed the Glass-Steagall Act that prohibited commercial banks from making financial investments. The Glass-Steagall Act also established the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, which protected and refunded money of individual depositors. These banking reforms were only temporary and did not provide assurance for the future. These reforms and programs were not effective at the time of the Great Depression because most America families, at that time, did not have enough money to pay for necessities, meaning that they did not have excess wealth or money to put into banks. They, however, did changed and affected the future American banking system. The Glass-Steagall Act helped successfully prevent future

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 Banking Act of 1933 was vital to the nation. As the country was based on a gold standard, the government was only able to inject supplies of currency based on gold in-hand. Prior to the Banking Act of 1933, people had been hoarding supplies of gold due to their fear of the market’s instability. The government needed to inject liquidity into the market, so these supplies of gold were needed. Banks could not make loans without this liquidity. The government established the “Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation,” which would ensure the people’s deposits in banks up to $5,000. This would lead to increased confidence in the banks, as they people’s money would be secured by the government. Banks, with these increased deposits, could loan out more money

The people began to lose faith on capitalism and FDR restored some of that faith with his fireside chats, telling American citizens, his plan and explain how banks work. FDR focused on the banks that closed and to reopen them. The Emergency Banking Act Mach 9, 1933 attempted to stabilize the banking system. Also, Federal Reserve Board was created to regulate banking and it also established the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) which insurance the money of depositors up to 2500 and in 1935 permanent agency. Because of FDR’s charm and the use of radio was able to restore some faith in banks and banks started to open. In 1934 the Securities Exchange Act which created the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) which would regulate Wall Street prevents misuse and insider information. Also, banks began offering credit low interest rate tried to encourage businesses to borrow and invest which in turn would create jobs. The Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC) provided financial support to state and local government loans went to bank, railroads, and other business to improve the economy. The RFC was implemented by President Hoover and later adopted by President Roosevelt. Roosevelt was able to restore the banking system earning him

Before the advent of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) in 1933 and the general conception of government safety nets, the United States banking industry was quite different than it is today. Depositors assumed substantial default risk and even the slightest changes in consumer confidence could result in complete turmoil within the banking world. In addition, bank managers had almost complete discretion over operations. However, today the financial system is among the most heavily government- regulated sectors of the U.S. economy. This drastic change in public policy resulted directly from the industry’s numerous pre-regulatory failures and major disruptions that produced severe economic and social

Following the enactment of NAFTA, Flint would take on another economic burden as a result of the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act. The Glass-Steagall Act was an act passed by the U.S. Congress in 1933. This piece of legislation functioned as a banking act that prohibited commercial banks from participating in the investment of banking business (source). It also created the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) and Regulation Q, institutions that served the purpose of maintaining the essence of the legislation. Essentially, the Glass-Steagall Act was passed as an emergency measure to counter the effects of the Great Depression by stopping bank runs and to restore confidence in the banking system. In 1999 President Clinton repealed the act in an effort to “modernize” financial regulation, this deregulated financial derivatives by effectively eliminating financial regulations. The repeal of the Glass-Steagall act was notably one of the most potent factors that almost led America into its second economic collapse. As a result, between 1999 and 2009 unemployment rates had quadrupled from roughly 4% to 17% in Flint, Michigan.

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 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.

The Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 that defined the roles for commercial banks, investments banks and insurance firms was over ridden by the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (1999) which repealed the provisions that restricted affiliations in financial institutions. Hence one solution is to overcome the incentive problem and the conflict of interests that arise when financial institutions simultaneously undertake financial activities of varied nature.

The U.S. subprime mortgage crisis was a set of events that led to the 2008 financial crisis, characterized by a rise in subprime mortgage defaults and foreclosures. This paper seeks to explain the causes of the U.S. subprime mortgage crisis and how this has led to a generalized credit crisis in other financial sectors that ultimately affects the real economy. In recent decades, financial industry has developed quickly and various financial innovation techniques have been abused widely, which is the main cause of this international financial crisis. In addition, deregulation, loose monetary policies of the Federal Reserve, shadow banking system also play

One of the first indications of the late 2000 financial crisis that led to downward spiral known as the “Recession” was the subprime mortgages; known as the “mortgage mess”. A few years earlier the substantial boom of the housing market led to the uprising of mortgage loans. Because interest rates were low, investors took advantage of the low rates to buy homes that they could in return ‘flip’ (reselling) and homeowners bought homes that they typically wouldn’t have been able to afford. High interest rates usually keep people from borrowing money because it limits the amount available to use for an investment. But the creation of the subprime mortgage