Essay on Separation of Commercial Banks and Investment Banks

hand” guiding the path of allocation through goods and services throughout the economy. Commercial and investment banking quickly became the leading hands in the economy, as financial resources was a common scarcity in environments. Merchant banks that were privately owned performed the capital distribution function. During the civil war, commercial banks were state chartered financial institutions. Many banks were under-capitalized, as they were under no obligation to disclose financial conditions

1929 accusing commercial banks of misleading the public into investing in risky securities with poor quality (Calomiris, 2010) 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

Similarly, prior to the great depression, banks were making large unsafe bets which caused the stock market to eventually crash causing

separating commercial banks and investment banking. The term Glass–Steagall Act, however, is most often used to refer to four provisions of the Banking Act of 1933 and only two of those provision restricted or limited commercial bank securities activities and affiliations between commercial banks and securities firms. That limited meaning of the term is described in the article on Glass–Steagall Legislation. Which means, an act to provide for the safer and more effective used of the assets of banks, to

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

introduced to avoid conflicts of interest. Banks offering investment banking services and mutual funds were accused of various abuses and were subject to conflicts of interest. The most essential source supporting the enactment of the Banking Act of 1933 was Pecora’s hearing in front of the US Senate Committee on Banking and Currency in February 1933 (Benston, 1990, P. 43). For Pecora and other opponents, only the strict legal separation of commercial and investment banking could fully eliminate the conflict

The rise and fall of Bear Stearns Introduction Bear Stearns, the fifth largest investment bank in US, was established as an equity-trading house in 1923 by Joseph Bear, Robert Stearns, and Harold Mayer. Its headquarters was located in New York City with offices in the major US cities, South America, Europe, and Asia, employing more than 13,500 people around the world. The firm survived every major crisis like the Great Depression, World War II, the 1987 market crash, and the 9/11 terrorists attack

Ring-Fencing and Total Separation Approaches to Banking Regulation The banking industry has over the years evolved from simple to large and complex organization. They have grown from one street building into having multiple branches some of which are international. Their clients range from individual and institutions to governments and other banks. Banks do not manufacture physical things. Their work is simply services for money (Koch & MacDonald 2010). Such services include storing, lending and

was precipitated by systematic striping away of the New Deal era policies of bank regulation. Most notable of these deregulatory acts was that of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999. This bill repealed the legislation which held commercial banks and investment banks separate. As the beginning of the 21 century approached many bankers clamored for an end to the policy of the “firewall” between Investment and commercial banks. Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999, sought to create more competition in the financial

Since 1970s, with the continuously deepened process of financial liberalisation and financial deregulation, the increasing improvement of financial innovation and the intensified fierce competition, diversified operational strategy has shown an increasingly apparent trend among financial institutions. A wave of business diversification swept global financial firms from the later 1980s until the recent financial crisis happened. From the microeconomics perspective, comparing with specialised business