Association of Realtors sees threat from banks' brokerage efforts.(Brief Article)

While the topic of bankers brokering real estate has been talked about for years, banks are now using the precedent of the 1999 Financial Modernization Act to pursue that option with more vigor.

That renewed effort is drawing adamant opposition from both the commercial and residential real estate communities.

"We as an industry maintain that real estate brokerage is not a financial transaction like the stock brokerages banks immediately went into," says Tim Kent, executive vice president of the North Carolina Association of Realtors, which is based in Greensboro, N.C.

The Financial Modernization Act, which allows the Federal Reserve and Treasury …