La Salle University : The Volcker Rule Case Study

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

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 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 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

Some background: In the wake of the 1929 stock market crash and the subsequent Great Depression, Congress was concerned that commercial banking operations and the payments system were incurring

The financial crisis emerged because of an excessive deregulation of business operation of financial institutions and of abusing the securitization mechanism in the absence of clearly defined rules to regulate this area in the American mortgage market (Krstić, Jemović, & Radojičić, 2013). Deregulation gives larger banks the opportunity to loosen underwriting lender guidelines and generate increase opportunity for homeownership (Kroszner & Strahan, 2013). After deregulation, banks utilized many versions of mortgage loans. Mortgage loans such as subprime and Alternative-A paper loans became available for borrowers challenged to find mortgage lenders before deregulation (Elbarouki, 2016; Palmer, 2015). The housing market has been severely affected by fluctuating interest rates and the requirement of large down payment (Follain, & Giertz, 2013). The subprime lending crisis has taken a toll on the nation’s economy since 2007. Individuals who lacked sufficient credit ratings or down payments resorted to subprime mortgages to finance their homes Defaults on subprime and other mortgages precipitated the foreclosure crisis, which contributed to the recent recession and national financial crisis (Odetunde, 2015). Subprime mortgages were appropriate for borrowers with substandard credit and Alternate-A paper loans were

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 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

In 2008, the housing market crashed and America fell into a recession. Many Americans lost their homes. Many investors lost large sums of money, and overall the economic recession hurt America as a whole. Today, we see that the stock market is more regulated than it was in 1929 with the Great Depression and 2008 with the Great Recession, but it is still not regulated as much as it previously was. In 1999, portions of the Banking Act of 1933, more commonly known as the the Glass-Stegall Act, were repealed. The repeal of the Glass-Stegall Act in 1999 sparked the Housing Crisis of 2005 and ultimately led to the Great Recession that America experienced in the 2000’s.

Financial historians have disputed the rational for reforming the banking system in the US as a result of the 1920s banking crisis. Calomiris (2010) argue that there may have been political self-interest incentives as to why the Glass-Steagall Act was enacted. Firstly Steagall had bargaining power as Chairman of the banking committee in the House of Representatives. Second, the Pecora Hearings populist politicians including Henry Steagall advocated in favour of small banks contributing in making large bank disliked amongst the public. And finally deposit insurance was introduced as a temporary system allowing for easy approval in the Congress.

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

During 2007 through 2010 there existed what we commonly refer to as the subprime mortgage crisis. Through deduction of readings by those considered esteemed in the realm of finance - such as Ben Bernanke - the crisis arose out of an earlier expansion of mortgage credit. This included extending mortgages to borrowers who previously would have had difficulty getting mortgages; this both contributed to and was facilitated by rapidly rising home prices. Pre-subprime mortgages, those looking to buy homes found it difficult to obtain mortgages if they had below average credit histories, provided small down payments or sought high-payment loans without the collateral, income, and/or credit history to match with their mortgage request. Indeed some high-risk families could obtain small-sized mortgages backed by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), otherwise, those facing limited credit options, rented. Because of these processes, home ownership fluctuated around 65 percent, mortgage foreclosure rates were low, and home construction and house prices mainly reflected swings in mortgage interest rates and income.

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