Investment banking
In 1933 the new deal separated investment from commercial banking through the Glass-Steagall Act. That law was no longer in effect in the late 1990s, opening the way for the power of investment banking to accelerate. Its growth was a response to new demands for investment services, technological changes, deregulation, and globalization. Investment banks were at the heart of the shadow banking system. Investment banking played a major role in the outbreak of the global financial crisis of 2007–9. In the aftermath, leading American investment banks were converted into bank holding companies, and brought under new regulations.