> In the wake of the financial crisis of 2008 (IIRC), the role of regular banking and hedge fund activities was split in two. This thing comes and goes in wave

> In the wake of the financial crisis of 2008 (IIRC), the role of regular banking and hedge fund activities was split in two. This thing comes and goes in waves. IIRC the requirement that retail banking and proprietary trading not be mixed was already part of the Glass-Steagall Act that came in the wake of the great depression. Clinton repealed it, which somehow played a role in the Citigroup-Salomon Brothers merger. After the 2008 financial crisis, the "Volcker Rule" was a regulatory effort to bring back this separation, but it took long to implement, is still not fully rolled out (there are exceptions granted, allowing banks a very long time period to trade out of positions they previously held), and there's already talk of rolling it back again.