Wall Street is dead. According to its Journal, it died last night when the Federal Reserve agreed to convert Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, the last remaining mega brokerages on Wall Street, into bank-holding companies. The Wall Street that was, “a coterie of independent brokerage firms that buy and sell securities, advise clients and are less regulated than old-fashioned banks,” is no more. In exchange for access to more Federal loan money, and not having have to mark its assets at market value, the two companies will be subject to tighter capital requirements and more government regulation and oversight about how they do their business. This will blunt profits, but that seems in order considering the run racked by so much reckless profiteering, for so long.

Fed Statement on Goldman, Morgan Stanley [WSJ]
Goldman, Morgan Scrap Wall Street Model,Become Banks in Bid to Ride Out Crisis [WSJ] (Photo: Getty)
PREVIOUSLY: It’s “The End Of Wall Street As We Have Known It”

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