Chapter 18 Commercial Banking Industry: Structure and Competition.

Chapter 18

Commercial Banking Industry: Structure and Competition

Copyright © 2006 Pearson Addison-Wesley. All rights reserved. 18-2

Chapter Preview

• We examine the historical development of the banking system, both in the U.S. and abroad. We then examine the role of financial innovation and its impact on competition. Topics include:

– Historical Development of the Banking System

– Financial Innovation and the Evolution of the Banking Industry

– Structure of the U.S. Commercial Banking Industry


Chapter Preview (cont.)

– Bank Consolidation and Nationwide Banking

– Separation of Banking and Other Financial Service Industries

– International Banking


Historical Development of the Banking Industry

• The modern commercial banking industry began when the Bank of North America was chartered in Philadelphia in 1782.

• The next slide provides a timeline of important dates in the history of U.S. banking prior to WWII.



Figure 18.1 Time Line of the Early History of Commercial Banking in the United States



• Outcome: Multiple Regulatory Agencies

1. Federal Reserve

2. FDIC

3. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency

4. State Banking Authorities


Financial Innovation

• Innovation is result of search for profits

• Response to Changes in Demand Conditions– Major change is huge increase in interest-rate risk

starting in 1960s

– Adjustable-Rate Mortgages are an example of the reply to interest-rate volatility

– Banks also started using derivates to hedge risk


Financial Innovation

• Response to Changes in Supply Conditions

– Major change is improvement in computer technology

1. Increases ability to collect information

2. Lowers transactions costs

3. This lead to many innovations on the supply side, which we will discuss


Financial Innovation: Credit and Debit Cards

• Many store credit cards existed long before WWII.

• Improved technology in the late 1960s reduced transaction costs making nationwide credit card programs profitable.

• The success of credit cards led to the development of debit cards for direct access to checkable funds.


Financial Innovation: Electronic Banking

• Automatic Teller Machines (ATMs) were the first innovation on this front. Today, over 250,000 ATMs service the U.S. alone.

• Automated Banking Machines combine ATMs, the internet, and telephone technology to provide “complete” service.

• Virtual banks now exist where access is only possible via the internet.


Financial Innovation: Electronic Payments

• The development of computer systems and the internet has made electronic payments of bills a cost-effective method over paper checks or money.

• The U.S. is still far behind some European countries in the use of this technology.


Financial Innovation: E-Money

• Electronic money, or stored cash, only exists in electronic form. It is accessed via a stored-value card or a smart card.

• E-cash refers to an account on the internet used to make purchases.


Financial Innovation: Junk Bonds

• Prior to 1980, debt was never issued that had a junk rating. The only junk debt was bonds that had fallen in credit rating.

• Michael Milken of Drexel Burnham assisted firms in issuing original-issue junk debt, and almost single-handedly created the market.


Financial Innovation: Commercial Paper Market

• Commercial paper refers to unsecured debt issued by corporations with a short original maturity.

• Currently, over $1.3 billion is outstanding in the market.

• The development of money market mutual funds assisted in the growth in this area.


Financial Innovation: Securitization

• Securitization refers to the transformation of illiquid assets into marketable capital market instruments.

• Today, almost any type of private debt can be securitized. This includes home mortgages, credit card debt, student loans, car loans, etc.


Financial Innovation: Avoidance of Existing Regulations

• Regulations Behind Financial Innovation

1.Reserve requirements • Tax on deposits = I rD

2.Deposit-rate ceilings (Reg Q)• As i , loophole mine to escape reserve requirement

tax and deposit-rate ceilings


Financial Innovation: Avoidance of Existing Regulations

• Money Market Mutual Funds: allowed investors similar access to their funds as a bank savings accounts, but offered higher rates, especially in the late 1970s.

• Sweep Accounts: Funds are “swept” out of checking accounts nightly and invested at overnight rates. Since they are no longer checkable deposits, reserve requirement taxes are avoided.


Financial Innovation and the Decline in Traditional Banking

• The traditional role of transforming short-term deposits into long-term loans has been greatly affected by financial innovation. As the next slide shows, the importance of commercial banks as a source of funds to nonfinancial borrowers has shrunk dramatically.


Figure 18.2 Bank Share of Nonfinancial borrowings, 1960–2004




• Loss of Cost Advantages in Acquiring Funds (Liabilities)

– π i then disintermediation because

1. Deposit rate ceilings and regulation Q

2. Money market mutual funds

3. Foreign banks have cheaper source of funds: Japanese banks can tap large savings pool



• Loss of Income Advantages on Uses of Funds (Assets)

1. Easier to use securities markets to raise funds: commercial paper, junk bonds, securitization

2. Finance companies more important because easier for them to raise funds


Banks' Response

• Loss of cost advantages in raising funds and income advantages in making loans causes reduction in profitability in traditional banking1. Expand lending into riskier areas (e.g., real estate)

2. Expand into off-balance sheet activities

3. Creates problems for U.S. regulatory system

• Similar problems for banking industry in other countries


Decline in Traditional Banking in Other Industrialized Countries

• Forces similar to those in the U.S. have led to a similar decline in other industrialized countries.

• For example, deregulation in Japan has led to new financial instruments, leading to disintermediation.

• In many countries, as securities markets develop, banks also face competition from the products offered.


Structure of the U.S. Commercial Banking Industry

• Around 8,000 commercial banks currently exist in the U.S.

• The tables on the next two slides shows various statistics for these banks as well as the ten largest U.S. banks.


Structure of the Commercial Banking Industry

FDIC statistics on bankinghttp://www.fdic.gov/bank/statistical/index.html

http://www.fdic.gov/bank/statistical/index.html


Ten Largest U.S. Banks

World’s 100 largest bankshttp://interactive.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/wb00-100-fpublic-2000-09-25.htm

http://interactive.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/wb00-100-fpublic-2000-09-25.htm







Branching Regulations

• Branching Restrictions: Very Anti-competitive

• Response to Branching Restrictions

1.Bank Holding Companies• Allowed purchases of banks outside state

• BHCs allowed wider scope of activities by Fed

• BHCs dominant form of corporate structure for banks

2.Automated Teller Machines • Not considered to be branch of bank, so networks allowed


Bank Consolidation and Nationwide Banking

As the next slide shows, the number of commercial banks in the U.S. was very stable from 1934 through the mid-1980s. After that, the number of commercial banks began to fall dramatically.


Figure 18.3 Number of Insured Commercial Banks in the United States, 1934–2004

Quarterly banking profilehttp://www2.fdic.gov/qbp/qbpSelect.asp?menuItem=QBP

Bank Consolidation and Number of Banks

http://www2.fdic.gov/qbp/qbpSelect.asp?menuItem=QBP













• Bank Consolidation: Why? 1. Branching restrictions weakened

2. Development of super-regional banks

• Riegle-Neal Act of 19941. Allows full interstate branching

2. Promotes further consolidation

• Future of Industry Structure– Will become more like other countries, but not quite:

• Several thousand, not several hundred



• Are Bank Consolidation and Nationwide Banking a Good Thing?

– Cons1. Fear of decline of small banks and small business lending

2. Rush to consolidation may increase risk taking

– Pros1. Community banks will survive

2. Increase competition

3. Increased diversification of bank loan portfolios: lessens likelihood of failures


Separation of Banking and Other Financial Service Industries

• Case for Glass-Steagall1. FDIC gives unfair advantage to banks

2. Allowing banks into underwriting is dangerous because FDIC promotes too much risk taking

3. Potential conflicts of interest

• Case Against Glass-Steagall1. Decreases competition

2. Unfair to banks

3. Hinders diversification



• Erosion of Glass-Steagall– Fed, OCC, FDIC are allowing banks to engage in

underwriting activities, under the Section 20 loophole in the act

• Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of 2002– Legislation to eliminate Glass-Steagall

– States retain insurance regulation, while SEC oversees securities activities

– OCC regulates subsidiaries that underwrite securities

– Fed still oversees bank holding companies



• Implications for Financial Consolidation

1.G-L-B will speed-up consolidation

2.Expect mergers between banks and other financial service providers to become more common

3.U.S. banks likely to become larger and more complex organizations



• Separation in Other Countries

1.Universal banking: Germany

2.British-style universal banking

3.U.S./Japan separation


International Banking

• Why Rapid Growth1.Rapid growth of international trade2.Banks abroad can pursue activities not allowed in

home country3.Tap into Eurodollar market

• U.S. Banks Overseas 1.Regulators

• Federal Reserve (Regulation K)

2.Structure• Edge Act Corporations

• International Banking Facilities


International Banking

• Foreign Banks in U.S.

1. Regulators• Same as for U.S. domestic banks

2. Structure• 500 offices in U.S.

• 20% of total U.S. bank assets


Ten Largest Banks in the World

Chapter 18 Commercial Banking Industry: Structure and Competition.

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Transcript of Chapter 18 Commercial Banking Industry: Structure and Competition.