For example, racial discrimination against an applicant for a bank loan is illegal.

ECONOMIST: Regulators are having to rethink their brief

In a tacit acknowledgment of the millions of illegal immigrants in America, numerous banks accept the matricula consular, a card issued by Mexican consulates regardless of the applicant's legal status, as sufficient identification to open a bank account.

ECONOMIST: Banking for immigrants

One case study found that it takes ten days for a bank to process a simple student loan that should take one day, because the bank has to print out the online forms and courier them to the applicant for signatures, then wait for them to be returned by post only to scan them back into digital form.

ECONOMIST: Electronic signatures