Big tech firms are already behaving like the big banks

This photograph taken on September 28, 2017, shows a smartphone being operated in front of GAFA logos (acronym for Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon web giants) as background in Hédé-Bazouges, western France. / AFP PHOTO / Damien MEYER

Picture a bank that lends US$1bil (RM3.90bil) to small businesses in 12 months, holds US$150bil (RM585.67bil) in corporate bonds, runs the world's largest money-market fund, offers mobile payments and credit cards, and gives customers cash balances that can be topped up across thousands of homely bricks-and-mortar outlets. 

Except it's not really a bank at all, but a technology firm.