International evidence suggests that in United States, amendments were made in banking laws which were seen as a way to enable the US banks to remain globally competitive. Adopting this new law resulted in ending 60 years of segregation of activities of banking and securities markets.
The US congress recognized that many of the arguments raised in successfully segregating both the activities in the past were no longer credible. So although the new law in the United States today enables banks through financial holding companies’ structures to engage in security market activities through an affiliated brokerage firm, nevertheless the banks are still prohibited from directly engaging in retail securities.