Having gone through a systemic crisis, finance-led capitalism is at a threshold—and with it the future of global markets. Even though critics on the political Left complain that the crisis has rendered finance even more concentrated and reregulation has left its basic structure intact, much has changed since those fateful days of 2008. Transnational banks, the stalwarts of global finance, are still bearing the wounds of this traumatic period. Weakened by heavy losses, these banks are now dealing with a huge regulatory remake while trying to pass stress tests and cope with destroyed reputations. The banks are on the defense and in retreat, trying to figure out the right kind of product mix that can pass muster with impatient shareholders and more watchful regulators. This leaves an opening for smaller, more nimble institutions taking away market share from traditional banks whose do-it-all strategy had turned them into dysfunctional conglomerates long ago. But the gradual decline of universal banking, evidenced by the postcrisis retreat of so many once-leading banks, poses a question that may even contain a momentous opportunity: what is to become of finance-led capitalism and how can we harness the undeniable power of finance for better uses?
Robert Guttmann hasn't uploaded this paper.
Let Robert know you want this paper to be uploaded.
