Nevertheless, by enhancing certainty about what can be done and how it can be done, I believe that the financial modernization law will likely bring an increase in mergers among firms that had been specializing in different financial services. These mergers will be undertaken to take advantage of the perceived synergies and cost advantages imagined from such combinations.
If synergies in back office operations or in delivery of service can be captured, such linkages might well provide a more efficient, and hence less costly, delivery of complementary services. The extent of consolidation and broadening remains in question, however, which gives rise to the second opportunity: the opportunity to deepen specialization.