Regulating the New Financial Services Industry

The new financial services industry-including banks, thrifts, securities dealers, and insurance and real estate investment companies-is big, diverse, complex, and international in scale. The U.S. regulatory agencies that oversee various parts of this system domestically have been trying for some time to come to terms with the effects of more than a decade of rapid change in the world financial sector. Borrowers and lenders, including individuals, corporations and institutions such as pension funds, have been reacting by making adjustments to their behavior as fast, or as prudently, as possible. In this volume, four leading analysts of this rapidly evolving industry offer proposals ranging from the creation of a new kind of consumer service bank to formation of a new kind of national regulatory agency intended to promote competition within what historically has not been a very competitive structure. Chapters include U.S. Financial Institutions in a World Market by Cynthia A. Glassman; Integrating Banking with Other Financial Services by James L. Pierce; After Glass-Steagall: Financial Institution Reregulation by Roberta S. Karmel; and Financial Restructuring and Its Implications for Consumers by John H. LaFalce. Also contains a glossary of relevant terms.