Sterling: What are the hours of work? move free ultra omega side effects Under the 1999 decision to repeal part of the Glass-SteagallAct, ending the forced separation of commercial and investmentbanking, any non-regulated bank that converted to holdingcompany status after 1999 would be allowed to continue to ownand invest in assets, as long as they held them prior to 1997.The banks have argued that their activities are "grandfathered"in, or that they are simply merchant banking investments.