President Bill Clinton signed the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA) into law on November 12, 1999, which effectively repealed the core provisions of the Glass-Steagall Act. Glass-Steagall, enacted during the Great Depression, had required the separation of commercial banking (which takes deposits) and investment banking (which deals with securities). The repeal was intended to modernize the financial system by allowing banks to merge with insurance and securities firms. In the years following the 2008 financial crisis, the repeal became a major point of debate, with many critics arguing that allowing banks to mix these high-risk and traditional activities contributed to the systemic fragility that led to the crash.