Deregulation

When it happened, no one could predict all the changes that would be wrought by banking deregulation.

The era saw hundreds of thousands of lost jobs.

In a deregulated world, banking would be a commodity, and the old perks and genteel traditions of banking would be gone forever.

Deregulation transformed banking into a commodity. Standard banker metrics, like profit per loan and profit per deposit, are no longe the key drivers. Instead, there is a new denominator: profit per employee. This prompted some banks to change their distribution system to rely primarily on stripped-down branches and ATMs.