Washington University Law Review Volume 65 Issue 3 January 1987 Evaluating Bank Commercial Paper Placement Activity Under the Glass-Steagall Act Stuart J. Vogelsmeier Washington University School of Law Follow this and additional works at: https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/law_lawreview Part of the Banking and Finance Law Commons Recommended Citation Stuart J. Vogelsmeier, Evaluating Bank Commercial Paper Placement Activity Under the Glass-Steagall Act, 65 WASH. U. L. Q. 615 (1987). Available at: https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/law_lawreview/vol65/iss3/5 This Note is brought to you for free and open access by the Law School at Washington University Open Scholarship. It has been accepted for inclusion in Washington University Law Review by an authorized administrator of Washington University Open Scholarship. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. EVALUATING BANK COMMERCIAL PAPER PLACEMENT ACTIVITY UNDER THE GLASS-STEAGALL ACT The Glass-Steagall Act' ("The Act") generally prohibits commercial banks from engaging in investment banking activities.2 In response to the recent growth of the financial services market, however, commercial banks have begun to offer services which traditionally the investment banking sector only offered.3 For example, banks now participate in the commercial paper market. Understandably, the investment banking in- dustry has complained about this activity.4 The industry has argued that the Act prohibits any bank involvement in the commercial paper market.5 The Act prohibits banks from underwriting securities.6 Although in Securities Industry Association v. Board of Governors (Bankers Trust) the Supreme Court concluded that commercial paper was a security for pur- poses of Glass-Steagall,7 it has not ruled whether any bank involvement in the commercial paper market constitutes a "per se" violation of the 1.