For more than three decades, commercial banks in the US have been ceding their traditional lending role. In their place, brokerage firms, hedge firms and private equity groups have used funding from capital markets to invest in securitized loans, removing them from bank balance sheets in the process. Although recent difficulties with the subprime sector suggest a potential for a partial reversal of the long-term trend shown in the chart, a return to the days when banks held onto most of the loans they originated appears highly unlikely.