It is barely too much to say that the new, deregulated world of national and international finance was made for the investment banks.26 Through their business of trading on their clients’ behalf and launching debt and other securities, they enjoyed an “edge” over all other participants in the market.27 In 1975 the abolition of fixed fees charged by Wall Street brokers for trading stocks led to fierce competition, wiped out smaller firms and forced the integration of trading, research and investment banking. In the 1980s, with interest rates coming down and bonds beginning their long bull run,
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