Working Paper

The determinants of the wealth effects of banks' expanded securities powers

Abstract: After several unsuccessful attempts by Congress to repeal Glass-Steagall restrictions on banks, the Federal Reserve more than doubled the revenue that commercial banking organizations' securities subsidiaries may earn from certain securities activities. The wealth effects associated with this event for a sample of publicly traded banking organizations are examined. We find evidence that indicates the revenue limit resulted in a less-than-optimal mix of activities for securities subsidiaries. However, subsequent merger activity that could have been generated by the revenue increase was not viewed favorably by investors.

Keywords: Securities;

Bibliographic Information

Provider: Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas

Part of Series: Financial Industry Studies Working Paper

Publication Date: 1999

Number: 99-1