Banks, as part of their customary banking activities and as an accommodation to their customers, also have long permitted customers that hold securities in custody accounts at the bank to buy and sell securities related to the account. These services allow customers to avoid the unnecessary expense of having to establish a separate securities account at a broker-dealer to effect such trades.
This, in turn, means that individually tailored products can be offered to the consumer. At first glance this seems like a good thing, but there is the risk that consumers will lose sight of other alternatives and the appeal of other fee-based business models will then be reduced considerably.