What FDR Hated About Glass-Steagall

June 15 (Bloomberg) -- President Franklin D. Roosevelt setthe standard for the first 100 days in office with anunprecedented whirlwind of legislative activity that sought tomake good on his pledge for “action and action now” to combatthe Great Depression.

June 16 marks the 80th anniversary of that era, which cameto a close when Roosevelt signed the Banking Act of 1933. Thatgroundbreaking financial reform is more commonly known for itsDemocratic co-sponsors, Senator Carter Glass of Virginia andRepresentative Henry Steagall of Alabama. These days, it ismostly remembered for just one of its provisions, the separationof commercial and investment banking, designed to wall offcustomer deposits from the risk-taking inherent in securitiesunderwriting.