After Gramm-Leach-Bliley: Looking for the Gains.

• Position: Financial services industry - Brief Article

Where are the big gains that are supposed to follow enactment of Gramm-Leach-Bliley? Mostly, they haven't happened yet, says Claude Hanley, managing director of Furash & Co., Washington, D.C., because strategic considerations have gotten in the way. "Organizational and channel conflict" have prevented most banks from taking full advantage of the opportunities GLB provides, Hanley writes in a recent issue of the Furash newsletter, "The Edge."

Most insurance companies already can offer banking products through thrift subsidiaries, Hanley points out. Why buy a bank and become subject to regulation by the Fed? And on the other side, with insurance...