US bank 改革（する） move （一定の）期間s danger for City 蓄える／店 of woe

By Anthony Hilton for MailOnline
Updated: 00:00 BST, 19 February 1999

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Now that the US 議会 can concentrate on real life again, it seems to be 長，率いるing into a コンビナート／複合体 絡まる over the 規制緩和 of banking in the next few months. The 結果 has enormous consequences for the City and the European banking 産業.

It will be the 12th 試みる／企てる to 廃止する the 1933 Glass Steagall 行為／法令／行動する, which separates 投資 from 商業の banking. Superficially, the omens look good. 議会 has probably never been so much in 協定 over 廃止する. Nor has the US banking 産業.

The problem, however, is that the two most important 財政上の 人物／姿／数字s in the world are at loggerheads over it and without their 共同の 是認 it is hard to see how 廃止する can go ahead.

連邦の Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan has long been in favour of the 法律 change. 財務省 長官 Robert Rubin has always had 疑問s. He bluntly told the House Banking 委員会 last week that their 不一致 was irreconcilable.

The 問題／発行する is a turf war over 規則. Greenspan wants the Fed to be lead regulator of the 産業 if 商業の and 投資 banks start to 合併する. Rubin says the 財務省 must be the ultimate regulator because the 政府 has 責任／義務 for 経済的な 政策 and since banks are an integral part of such a 政策 it must keep 支配（する）／統制する over them.

This 不一致 would probably have scuppered Glass Steagall's 廃止する last year if it had not been sunk first by Phil Gram, a 共和国の／共和党の 代表者／国会議員. It so happens that since then Gram has taken over the powerful chairman-ship of the House Banking 委員会 itself.

It is too soon to guess at the out-come. But with the three most important people 伴う／関わるd in the 廃止する 過程 squabbling, it is no wonder the US banking 産業 is worried. 上級の 銀行業者s such as Merrill Lynch 長，指導者 David Komansky have been running around Washington 猛烈に trying to keep the 廃止する on course. Komansky （人命などを）奪う，主張するs that without it, US banks will be 攻撃を受けやすい to 引き継ぎ／買収 by foreigners.

This is really just scaremongering. The real 問題／発行する is whether the US banking 産業 will be 許すd to 強固にする／合併する／制圧する, as it dearly wants to , into mega-banks such as a Merrill-Chase Manhattan combination. The Citicorp-旅行者s 合併, for instance, depends on 廃止する.

If Greenspan, Rubin and Gram can somehow end their differences and let 廃止する through, the US could produce 財政上の services companies so large and powerful that even Deutsche, 地位，任命する-銀行業者s 信用, will look puny. It may also leave the City as little more than an outpost of 塀で囲む Street.

The best hope for the Europeans is that the bickering in Washington will give them a little more breathing space to hurry on with their own 財政上の services consolidation. At least then they may

have some plausible 競争 with which to 反対する the Americans when Glass Steagall does finally bite the dust.

一方／合間, Lord Sainsbury could be forgiven for feeling hounded in the 熱狂的興奮状態 over genetically 修正するd food. But there is scant 救済 to be had at the company that 耐えるs his 指名する. Sainsbury's 株 have fallen by a third since last September, not least thanks to the 最近の 発覚 of poor underlying sales.

投資家s are now worrying that staff are becoming demoralised as the group seems 自信のない who its 顧客s are and how to 増加する their number. Dino Adriano has been 長，指導者 (n)役員／(a)執行力のある of the 最高の-markets chain for two years and so far 株主s have borne with him. There is just a hint that their patience may be wearing thin.