Search Results
Working Paper
Deregulation, the Internet, and the competitive viability of large banks and community banks
Deregulation, technological change, and increased competitive rivalry are transforming U.S. commercial banking from an industry dominated by thousands of small, locally focused banks into an industry where a handful of large banks could potentially span the nation and control the majority of its bank deposits. This paper examines the comparative strengths and weaknesses of large and small banks in this new environment, and outlines the strategic opportunities and threats that new technology - especially the Internet - pose for U.S. banks. We begin by documenting recent trends in bank size, ...
Working Paper
Product mix and earnings volatility at commercial banks: evidence from a degree of leverage model
Commercial banks? lending and deposit-taking business has declined in recent years. Deregulation and new technology have eroded banks? comparative advantages and made it easier for nonbank competitors to enter these markets. In response, banks have shifted their sales mix toward noninterest income ? by selling ?nonbank? fee-based financial services such as mutual funds; by charging explicit fees for services that used to be ?bundled? together with deposit or loan products; and by adopting securitized lending practices which generate loan origination and servicing fees and reduce the need for ...
Conference Paper
Portfolio lending decisions at small commercial banks
Working Paper
The effects of geographic expansion on bank efficiency
We assess the effects of geographic expansion on bank efficiency using cost and profit efficiency for over 7,000 U.S. banks, 1993-1998. We find that parent organizations exercise some control over the efficiency of their affiliates, although this control tends to dissipate with distance to the affiliate. However, on average, distance-related efficiency effects tend to be modest, suggesting that some efficient organizations can overcome any effects of distance. The results imply there may be no particular optimal geographic scope for banking organizations some may operate efficiently within a ...
Journal Article
The challenges facing community banks: in their own words
Ten years of deregulation, new technology, and increase competition have made the U.S. banking industry a less hospital place for many community banks. But the consensus view among ten community bankers recently surveyed by the Federal Reserve is that rapid industry change has provided opportunities as well as threats, and that well-managed, innovative community banks will be able to profitably coexist with large multi-state banks in the future.
Working Paper
Risk overhang and loan portfolio decisions
Despite operating under substantial regulatory constraints, we find that commercial banks manage their investments largely consistent with the predictions of portfolio choice models with capital market imperfections. Based on 1990-2002 data for small (assets less than $1 billion) U.S. commercial banks, net new lending to the business, real estate, and consumer sectors increased with expected sector profitability, tended to decrease with the illiquidity of existing (overhanging) loan stocks, and was responsive to correlations in cross-sector returns. Small banks are most appropriate for this ...
Journal Article
Community banks: what is their future and why does it matter?
The U.S. banking system has undergone a dramatic restructuring since the 1970s. One of the biggest changes is the reduced number and market share of community banks. The number of banks with less than $1 billion in assets ? a common definition of community bank ? has declined from approximately 14,000 in 1980 to about 7,000 today. Concurrently, the proportion of assets held by the ten largest bank holding companies increased from less than 25 percent to more than 75 percent, while community banks? share fell from about one third of the market to well under one fifth
Working Paper
Technological progress and the geographic expansion of the banking industry
We test some predictions about the effects of technological progress on geographic expansion using data on banks in U.S. multibank holding companies over 1985-1998. Specifically, we test whether over time (a) parental control over affiliate banks has increased, and (b) the agency costs associated with distance from the parent have decreased. The data suggest that banking organizations exercise significant control over affiliates that has been increasing over time, and that the agency costs associated with distance have decreased somewhat over time. The findings are consistent with the ...