Comment Re:Glass Steagal needs to be brought back (Score 4, Informative) 59
Investment bank:
Underwriting stock and bond offerings to corporations. (meaning hiring the lawyers to write the lawyer stuff, and hawking the products)
Mergers and Acquisitions.
Market makers for bonds.
Currency trading for speculation which goes along with bond trading (as FX rates highly depend on interest rate changes).
Lending large amounts to corporations and governments.
Sponsoring investment funds.
Lending money to hedge funds, and supposedly margin calling them before they blow up.
Direct bidding on government debt auctions.
What commercial banks typically handle:
Personal and smaller corporate cash management & payroll.
Real estate mortgages
Consumer lending
FX exchange for actual foreign cash transactions
What investment and commercial banks handle:
Institutional real estate lending
The largest bank is JP Morgan Chase. JP Morgan is the investment banking side, and Chase is the commercial banking side.