In a word, the existing prohibitions are anachronistic. One thing has remained consistent: Banks are in the business of taking and managing risk, have always been and always will be. The change that we must cope with is that technology has changed the ways they take risk, while at the same time improving their capability for managing it.
Such a situation would, of course, be highly undesirable. 1  BIS Review 107/1999  III. Strategic responses of banks  As you may have guessed by now, I myself do not believe in the gloomy scenarios. The structural trends I have just identified have obviously prompted banks to reconsider their activities and their distribution channels.