Gramm-Bliley-Leach Act

Gramm-Bliley-Leach Act

Legislation in the United States, passed in 1999, that deregulated the banking industry. Specifically, it repealed the portion of the Glass-Steagal Act that prohibited commercial banks, investment banks and insurance companies from working in each other's sectors. Critics claim that this deregulation led directly to the late 2000s recession by allowing banks to take excessive risks, essentially putting their customers' deposits at risk. Many others claim that this assessment is inaccurate, and contend that the Act prevented the crisis from being even worse than it was.