"From the end-user standpoint the functionality is essentially the same."
Oh, well if THAT's the case, then a 1973 240Z and a 2008 Ferrari Testarossa are "functionally essentially the same" and no one is ever going to really notice a difference between the two. I mean, after all, they're both sports cars...
Just because things LOOK the same doesn't mean that they're the same.
One "functionally essentially the same" observation about getting my mortgage through a bank, and when I got my original mortgage through and Navy Federal Credit Union...
I forget the name of the bank I used for the mortgage when I bought this house in 1993. Doesn't matter because it's been suctioned up several levels over the years.
But, I didn't even make the first payment on the loan when it was sold. OK, normal. Three months later, it was sold to another bank. Less than a year later it was sold again. And less than a year after that it was sold to its final resting place, Wells Fargo.
Every time the mortgage changed hands, the servicing changed hands. If it was Tuesday, my loan had gone someplace else, each time with newer, more annoying call center procedures.
In 2001 I refinanced with Navy Federal. To date, 0 transfers of my mortgage. Of course they've sold the note, that's a given, but they retain servicing for the life of the loan. No more musical servicers.
That's a difference people tend to notice.