The Gramm–Leach–Bliley Act (GLBA), also known as the Financial Services Modernization Act of 1999, () is an Act of the 106th United States Congress (1999–2001). It repealed part of the Glass–Steagall Act of 1933, removing barriers in the market among banking companies, securities companies, and insurance companies that prohibited any one institution from acting as any combination of an investment bank, a commercial bank, and an insurance company. With the passage of the Gramm–Leach–Bliley Act, commercial banks, investment banks, securities firms, and insurance companies were allowed to consolidate. Furthermore, it failed to give to the SEC or any other financial regulatory agency the authority to regulate large investment bank holding companies. The legislation was signed into law by President Bill Clinton.
A year before the law was passed, Citicorp, a commercial bank holding company, merged with the insurance company Travelers Group in 1998 to form the conglomerate Citigroup, a corporation combining banking, securities and insurance services under a house of brands that included Citibank, Smith Barney, Primerica, and Travelers. Because this merger was a violation of the Glass–Steagall Act and the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956, the Federal Reserve gave Citigroup a temporary waiver in September 1998. Less than a year later, GLBA was passed to legalize these types of mergers on a permanent basis. The law also repealed Glass–Steagall's conflict of interest prohibitions "against simultaneous service by any officer, director, or employee of a securities firm as an officer, director, or employee of any member bank".
Legislative history The banking industry had been seeking the repeal of the 1933 Glass–Steagall Act since the 1980s, if not earlier. In 1987 the Congressional Research Service prepared a report that explored the cases for and against preserving the Glass–Steagall Act.IB87061: Glass-Steagall Act: Commercial vs. Investment Banking , Congressional Research Service (CRS)
Respective versions of the Financial Services Act were introduced in the U.S. Senate by Phil Gramm (R–Texas) and in the U.S. House of Representatives by Jim Leach (R-Iowa). The third lawmaker associated with the bill was Rep. Thomas J. Bliley Jr. (R-Virginia), Chairman of the House Commerce Committee from 1995 to 2001.
During debate in the House of Representatives, Rep. John Dingell (D–Michigan) argued that the bill would result in banks becoming "too big to fail". Dingell further argued that this would necessarily result in a bailout by the Federal Government. The House passed its version of the Financial Services Act of 1999 on July 1, 1999, by a bipartisan vote of 343–86 (Republicans 205–16; Democrats 138–69; Independent 0–1),H.R.10: Financial Services Act of 1999, EH , July 1, 1999, Engrossed as Agreed to or Passed by House, Library of CongressConsideration of H.R.10: Financial Services Act of 1999 , All Congressional Actions & Reports of H.R.10, Congressional Record two months after the Senate had already passed its version of the bill on May 6 by a much narrower 54–44 vote along basically partisan lines (53 Republicans and 1 Democrat in favor; 44 Democrats opposed).S.900: Financial Services Modernization Act of 1999, ES , May 6, 1999, Engrossed as Agreed to or Passed by Senate, Library of CongressConsideration of S.900: Financial Services Modernization Act of 1999 , All Congressional Actions & Reports of S.900, Congressional RecordCongressional roll-call at S.900 as amended: Financial Services Modernization Act of 1999, Record Vote No: 105 , May 6, 1999, U.S. Senate Roll Call Votes.Sen. Fritz Hollings (D-S. Carolina) voted in favor, Sen. Peter Fitzgerald (R-Illinois) voted "present" and Sen. James Inhofe (R-Oklahoma) did not vote. A table with members' full names, sortable by vote, state, region and party, may be found at S.900 as amended: Gramm–Leach–Bliley Act, roll call 105, 106th Congress, 1st session. Votes Database at The Washington Post. Retrieved on 2008-10-09 from .
When the two chambers could not agree on a joint version of the bill, the House voted on July 30 by a vote of 241–132 (R 58–131; D 182–1; Ind. 1–0) to instruct its negotiators to work for a law which ensured that consumers enjoyed medical and financial privacy as well as "robust competition and equal and non-discriminatory access to financial services and economic opportunities in their communities" (i.e., protection against exclusionary redlining).
The bill then moved to a joint conference committee to work out the differences between the Senate and House versions. Democrats agreed to support the bill after Republicans agreed to strengthen provisions of the anti-redlining Community Reinvestment Act and address certain privacy concerns; the conference committee then finished its work by the beginning of November.The War on CRA: Opportunity in Next Wave of Mergers, Cincotta, National Housing Institute, 1999 On November 4, the final bill resolving the differences was passed by the Senate 90–8,Congressional roll-call: S.900 as reported by conferees: Financial Services Act of 1999, Record Vote No: 354 , November 4, 1999, Clerk of the Senate. Sortable unofficial table: On Agreeing to the Conference Report, S.900 Gramm–Bliley–Leach Act, roll call 354, 106th Congress, 1st session Votes Database at The Washington Post, retrieved on October 9, 200852 Republicans and 38 Democrats voted for the bill. Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama (Republican, formerly a Democrat) voted against it, as did 7 Democratic Senators: Barbara Boxer (Calif.), Richard Bryan (Nevada), Byron Dorgan (N. Dakota), Russell Feingold (Wisc.), Tom Harkin (Iowa), Barbara Mikulski (Maryland) and Paul Wellstone (Minn.) Sen. Peter Fitzgerald (R-Illinois) again voted "present", while Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona) did not vote. and by the House 362–57.Congressional roll-call: On the passage of S.900: Financial Services Act of 1999, Record Vote No: 570 , November 4, 1999, Clerk of the U.S. House. Sortable unofficial table: On Agreeing to the Conference Report, S. 900 Financial Services Modernization Act, roll call 570, 106th Congress, 1st session Votes Database at The Washington Post, retrieved on October 9, 2008Republicans voted 207–5 in favor, with 10 not voting. Democrats voted 155–51 in favor, with 5 not voting. Independent Rep. Bernie Sanders of Vermont voted no. The legislation was signed into law by President Bill Clinton on November 12, 1999."S. 900: Gramm–Leach–Bliley Act" , 106th Congress – 1st Session, GovTrack.us.
Changes caused by the Act Many of the largest banks, brokerages, and insurance companies desired the Act at the time. The justification was that individuals usually put more money into investments when the economy is doing well, but they put most of their money into savings accounts when the economy turns bad. With the new Act, they would be able to do both 'savings' and 'investment' at the same financial institution, which would be able to do well in both good and bad economic times.
Prior to the Act, most financial services companies were already offering both saving and investment opportunities to their customers. On the retail/consumer side, a bank called Norwest Corporation, which would later merge with Wells Fargo Bank, led the charge in offering all types of financial services products in 1986. American Express attempted to own participants in almost every field of financial business (although there was little synergy among them). Things culminated in 1998 when Citibank merged with The Travelers Companies, creating Citigroup. The merger violated the Bank Holding Company Act (BHCA), but Citibank was given a two-year forbearance that was based on an assumption that they would be able to force a change in the law. The Gramm–Leach–Bliley Act passed in November 1999, repealing portions of the BHCA and the Glass–Steagall Act, allowing banks, brokerages, and insurance companies to merge, thus making the CitiCorp/Travelers Group merger legal.
Also prior to the passage of the Act, there were many relaxations to the Glass–Steagall Act. For example, a few years earlier, commercial Banks were allowed to pursue investment banking, and before that banks were also allowed to begin stock and insurance brokerage. Insurance underwriting was the only main operation they weren't allowed to do, something rarely done by banks even after the passage of the Act. The Act further enacted three provisions that allow for bank holding companies to engage in physical commodity activities. Prior to the enactment of the Act those activities were limited to those that were so closely related to banking to be considered incidental to it. Under GLBA depending on the provision the institution falls into, bank holding companies can engage in physical commodity trading, energy tolling, energy management services, and merchant banking activities.
Much consolidation occurred in the financial services industry since, but not at the scale some had expected. Retail banks, for example, do not tend to buy insurance underwriters, as they seek to engage in a more profitable business of insurance brokerage by selling products of other insurance companies. Other retail banks were slow to market investments and insurance products and package those products in a convincing way. Brokerage companies had a hard time getting into banking, because they do not have a large branch and backshop footprint. Banks have recently tended to buy other banks, such as the 2004 Bank of America and Fleet Boston merger, yet they have had less success integrating with investment and insurance companies. Many banks have expanded into investment banking, but have found it hard to package it with their banking services, without resorting to questionable tie-ins which caused scandals at Smith Barney.
Remaining restrictions Crucial to the passing of this Act was an amendment made to the GLBA, stating that no merger may go ahead if any of the financial holding institutions, or affiliates thereof, received a "less than satisfactory rating at its most recent CRA exam", essentially meaning that any merger may only go ahead with the strict approval of the regulatory bodies responsible for the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA).Community Reinvestment Act Amendments in the Gramm–Leach Act , additional text. This was an issue of hot contention, and the Clinton Administration stressed that it "would veto any legislation that would scale back minority-lending requirements."
GLBA also did not remove the restrictions on banks placed by the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956 which prevented financial institutions from owning non-financial corporations. It conversely prohibits corporations outside of the banking or finance industry from entering retail and/or commercial banking. Many assume Wal-Mart's desire to convert its industrial bank to a commercial/retail bank ultimately drove the banking industry to back the GLBA restrictions.
Some restrictions remain to provide some amount of separation between the investment and commercial banking operations of a company. For example, licensed bankers must have separate business cards, e.g., "Personal Banker, Wells Fargo Bank" and "Investment Consultant, Wells Fargo Private Client Services". Much of the debate about financial privacy is specifically centered around allowing or preventing the banking, brokerage, and insurances divisions of a company from working together.