Does This Mean Longer Lines at the Bank?

Texas senator Phil Gramm called it "the most important banking legislation in 60 years," but despite the pomp and circumstance heralding Friday's repeal of the 1933 Glass-Steagall Banking Act, the measure is mostly a case of legislation catching up with what private business has already done. Lenders, insurers and stockbrokers now have the capability to comingle in one mega-outlet, selling insurance, lending money and peddling stocks to consumers in one fell swoop. Sound familiar?

"This is like telling Citigroup, 'Hey, you guys can go ahead with what you've already been doing,’" says TIME financial writer Karl Taro Greenfeld. Glass-Steagall, introduced soon after the 1929 Wall Street crash, was designed to insulate each financial sector from disaster in another domain; for years it forced differentiation between commercial and investment banks, ostensibly to protect against systemic failure from another stock plunge. "This is a much more efficient system for consumers," says Greenfeld. "Now they can have their brokerage, insurance policies and checking accounts in one place." The disadvantages? "There may be fewer outlets, less of a choice for some people," Greenfeld says.