Why are commercial banks comprehensive and multifunctional department store-style financial institutions?

The risk of off-balance-sheet business in China's commercial banks is not a problem of excessive quantity and scale in essence, but a problem of structural fragility.

In other words, acknowledging the risks of the current off-balance sheet business does not mean denying the off-balance sheet business itself. In fact, American commercial banks are called "financial department stores" because of their developed off-balance-sheet business.

In western countries, off-balance sheet business is an important source of income and profit for commercial banks, and it is not uncommon for off-balance sheet assets to exceed on-balance sheet assets. It can be seen that the gap between off-balance-sheet business of commercial banks in China and western countries is not reflected in the scale.