Why not? Gramm-Leach, the gift that keeps on giving:

What was a move of desperation for Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley could become a strategy for a broad array of institutions hoping to weather the economic turmoil.

With liquidity at a premium and confidence in corporate America dwindling, insurance companies, automakers, and small investment houses could apply to the Federal Reserve Board to become bank holding companies, observers said.

The status would provide several advantages, including access to more stable funding through the discount window and - in a kind of reverse regulatory arbitrage - a perception of stronger oversight from the Fed, which could soothe anxious investors.

"Reputationally, the advantages of becoming a bank have increased in the past few weeks," said Georges Ugeux, the chairman and chief executive of Galileo Global Advisors LLC, a small New York investment firm. "Becoming a bank and being regulated by the Fed is certainly now a better place."

Georges, eh? Wasn't socialism invented in France?

The most likely converts include insurance companies. Some, such as State Farm Insurance Co. and Allstate Insurance Co., already own thrifts, clearing the first hurdle for forming a bank holding company: owning a depository institution. But until now they have avoided Fed oversight and have been subject to regulation from the Office of Thrift Supervision.

"They could easily convert," said Marc Franson, a partner in the banking department of Chapman & Cutler LLP in Chicago. "They are the next logical step. ... They're the other arm of financial services." ...

"When you look at Gramm-Leach-Bliley, it allowed the convergence of financial services and insurance activities," Mr. Franson said. "You wouldn't have to go to Congress. The legal framework is already there. ... It's sort of seeing it come to fruition." ...

Some observers said the automakers could argue that the credit crunch is justification for a status change.

"If you look at what's going on with GM, Ford, and Chrysler, they would argue that the problem is credit with buyers," said Steve Dunlevie, a partner at Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice PLLC in Atlanta. "The real impetus is to gain access, immediate access, to the traditional discount window, whereby they could borrow and use the same collateral as banks." ...

Some sources have indicated a change in the largest automakers' status could come in weeks. But so far automakers remain mum about such a plan. ...

Another question mark is whether General Electric Co. should consider a conversion. It reported a third-quarter earnings decline Friday as a result of decreased income from GE Capital, its financial arm.

"GE Capital has always told the world it is doing banking without the regulatory model," Mr. Ugeux said. "That might not work for their long term future."

"Everything is theoretically on the table," said [Bert Ely, an independent analyst in Alexandria, Va.] "You could finance the whole damn economy through the Fed, if you want."

Ponies for bankers!

Granted, this article originally appeared in American Banker, and they probably think that everything is already a bank anyhow. But weirder things have already happened this year.

NOTE Except, of course, for helping out homeowners. Nothing on the table there, at all. Except the idea of drawing down your IRA.