Because non-bank subsidiaries of a bank holding company operating under section 20 of the Glass-Steagall Act are affiliates of a bank, they are not under the bank’s control, do not have their profits or losses consolidated with the bank’s, and are less liable to have their creditors recover against the bank.
A bank therefore has less incentive to risk its own reputation or expose itself or its customers to loss in order to assist a troubled section 20 affiliate or a failed underwriting by that affiliate. Also, because securities activities are conducted in an affiliate, banks are limited in their ability to fund those activities by sections 23A and 23B of the Federal Reserve Act.