TY - UNPD A1 - Baums, Theodor T1 - Universal banks and investment companies in Germany T2 - Institut für Handels- und Wirtschaftsrecht (Osnabrück): Arbeitspapiere ; [19]95,5 T2 - Institut für Bankrecht (Frankfurt, Main): Arbeitspapiere ; Nr. 26 N2 - Universal banking means that banks are permitted to offer all of the various kinds of financial services. This includes classical banking activities like the credit and deposit business, as well as investment services, placement and brokerage of securities, and even insurance activities, trading in real estate and others. German universal banks also hold stock in nonfinancial firms and offer to vote their clients' shares in other firms. This paper deals with universal banks and their role in the investment business, more specifically, their links with investment companies and their various roles as shareholders and providers of financial services to such companies. Banks and investment companies have, as financial intermediaries, one trait in common: they both transform capital of investors (depositors and shareholders of investment funds, respectively) into funds (loans and equity or debt securities, respectively) that are channeled to other firms. So why should a regulation forbid to combine these transformation tasks in one institution or group, and why should the law not allow banks to establish investment companies and provide all kinds of financial services to them in addition to their banking services? German banking and investment company law have answered these questions in the affirmative. This paper argues that the existing regulation is not a sound and recommendable one. The paper is organized as follows: Sections II - V identify four areas where the combination of banking and investment might either harm the shareholders of the investment funds and/or negatively affect other constituencies such as the shareholders of the banking institution. These sections will at the same time explore whether there are institutional or regulatory provisions in place or market forces at work that adequately protect investors and the other constituencies in question. Concluding remarks follow (VI.). T3 - Arbeitspapiere / Johann-Wolfgang-Goethe-Universität, Institut für Bankrecht - 26 KW - Deutschland KW - Investmentfonds KW - Investmentsparen KW - Universalbank Y1 - 1995 UR - http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/4673 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:hebis:30-8291 UR - http://www.jura.uni-frankfurt.de/42780841/arbeitspapiere PB - Institut für Handels- und Wirtschaftsrecht CY - Osnabrück ER -