<P> Over time, the term Glass--Steagall Act came to be used most often to refer to four provisions of the 1933 Banking Act that separated commercial banking from investment banking . Congressional efforts to "repeal the Glass--Steagall Act" referred to those four provisions (and then usually to only the two provisions that restricted affiliations between commercial banks and securities firms). Those efforts culminated in the 1999 Gramm - Leach - Bliley Act (GLBA), which repealed the two provisions restricting affiliations between banks and securities firms . The 1933 Banking Act's separation of investment and commercial banking is described in the article on the Glass--Steagall Act . Institutions were given one year to decide whether they wanted to specialize in commercial or investment banking . </P> <P> The act had a large impact on the Federal Reserve . Notable provisions included the creation of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) under Section 8 . However, the 1933 FOMC did not include voting rights for the Federal Reserve Board, which was revised by the Banking Act of 1935 and amended again in 1942 to closely resemble the modern FOMC . </P> <P> To decrease competition between commercial banks and discourage risky investment strategies, the Banking Act of 1933 outlawed the payment of interest on checking accounts and also placed ceilings on the amount of interest that could be paid on other deposits . </P> <P> Several provisions of the 1933 Banking Act sought to restrict "speculative" uses of bank credit . Section 3 (a) required each Federal Reserve Bank to monitor local member bank lending and investment to ensure there was not "undue use" of bank credit for "speculative trading or carrying" of securities, commodities or real estate . Section 7 limited the total amount of loans a member bank could make secured by stocks or bonds and permitted the Federal Reserve Board to impose tighter restrictions and to not limit the total amount of such loans that could be made by member banks in any Federal Reserve district . Section 11 (a) prohibited Federal Reserve member banks from acting as agents for nonbanks in placing loans to brokers or dealers . Glass also hoped to put "speculative" credit into more productive sectors of the U.S. economy . </P>

Congress increased public confidence in banks in 1933 by