Big Bang, Followed by Broken Glass

Determined to attract masters of the financial universe to London, in the 1980s Margaret Thatcher's Britain unleashed financial markets in what was called the Big Bang. In 1999 the U.S. responded by scrapping provisions of the Glass-Steagall Act that prohibited banks, brokers, investment bankers and insurance companies from cohabiting in the same holding company.

The rest is misery.

Now, reports FT.com, London's Big Bangers think they might need to enact something like … Glass Steagall.

If bond salespeople and brokers should once again be banned from commercial banks here and abroad, could bank investment advisory services make a comeback?