The last two remaining Wall Street investment banks gave up their relatively non-regulated status and are now commercial banks as the Federal Reserve approved Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley to become bank holding companies yesterday. The reason? Morgan and Goldman can now permanently borrow from the government, since banks can borrow from the Federal Reserve at the discount window. Less risk, less profit, but the ability to buy retail banks and add stability. It is an interesting trade-off.
Nomura Securities is close to buying Lehman's Asian operations as Lehman continues to be divvied up.
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