The Barrier to Breaking Up the Banks

摘要

Wall Street banks are fending off calls to break up from stockholders, analysts, and industry veterans like former Citigroup Chief Executive Officer Sandy Weill, who arranged the 1998 merger of Travelers Group and Citicorp that ushered in the era of so-called universal banks. Critics say the banks are too complex to manage, are overburdened by regulation, and have trading operations that pose a risk to taxpayers because they're so big that the government would be reluctant to let them fail.