Exploring the potential effects of removing the legal barriers between banks and commercial firms, this article surveys economic theory as well as experience in other developed countries and in U.S. nonbank conglomerates.

This paper examines provisions of the FDIC Improvement Act related to corporate governance of banks. These provisions focus on the composition and independence of the audit committee and on increased regulatory influence over executive compensation. The composition of audit committees for a...

Title IV of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999 closed the unitary thrift holding company loophole, which allowed a limited commingling of banking and commerce. This article examines whether eliminating this loophole was beneficial by empirically comparing the performance of thrifts in holding...