In America, which banned universal banking after the Great Depression under the Glass-Steagall act, the division between the two kinds was incrementally weakened for decades, before it was finally scrapped in 1999.
ECONOMIST: Bank reform
2.
Politicians such as Phil Gramm, formerly a senator from Texas, sponsored the repeal of the Glass-Steagall act, a Depression-era separation of investment and retail banking.
ECONOMIST: The uneven contest
3.
Glass-Steagall, the law enacted after the Great Depression commenced, was slain back in 1999.
FORBES: What Have We Learned From Lehman's Monumental Failure?