a) Why have technological advances hindered the enforcement of legal restrictions on bank branching?

b) The globalization of banking has led to the need for global benchmarks for interest rates. In light of the LIBOR scandal, what characteristic do you think is most central to any new interest rate benchmark that might replace LIBOR.

c) Discuss the problems life insurance companies will face as genetic information becomes more widely available.

d) Why did government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) such as Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae have substantially higher leverage ratios than the average U.S. bank in the years preceding the financial crisis of 20072009? Explain how this made the enterprises more vulnerable to house-price declines that precipitated the crisis.