, Columnist
Big Tech Firms Are Behaving Like Big Banks
All that remains is for regulators to treat them like it.
This article is for subscribers only.
Picture a bank that lends $1 billion to small businesses in 12 months, holds $150 billion in corporate bonds, runs the world's largest money-market fund, offers mobile payments and credit cards, and gives customers cash balances that can be topped up across thousands of homely bricks-and-mortar outlets.
Except it's not really a bank at all, but a technology firm.