As anticipated, President Bill Clinton today signed into law the Financial Services Modernization Act of 1999, also called the the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act. The new law will allow all manner of financial services companies to merge, market and sell each other's products.

The bill is expected to spur the financial services to further heights of consolidation, as the major players map out their one-stop financial-services shopping strategies.

Reaction to the news has been almost unanimously postive within the industry, to no-one's surprise. Banking and insurance company executives are decribing almost utopian online and offline shops with every possible product under the sun and lower costs via economies of scale.

But industry watchdogs have a fair amount of skepticism about the fair pricing of new products with more consolidation, including Ralph Nader who was quoted as saying that the new law "will mean higher prices and fewer choices for low-, moderate- and middle-income families across the nation. Personal privacy will be virtually eliminated." 

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