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Working Paper
Chargebacks: another payment card acceptance cost for merchants
Although chargebacks are perceived as one of the major cost components for merchants to accept card payments, little research has been conducted on them. To fill that gap, this paper describes the current chargeback landscape by generating detailed statistics on chargebacks for signature-based transactions. Our data are from merchant processors, which, altogether, processed more than 20 percent of all signature-based transactions in the United States. For Visa and MasterCard transactions, chargebacks merchants receive are, on average, 1.6 basis points (bps) of sales number and 6.5 bps of ...
Working Paper
Internet banking: an exploration in technology diffusion and impact
This paper studies the diffusion and impact of a cost-saving technological innovation?Internet banking. Our theory characterizes the process through which the innovation is adopted sequentially by large and small banks, and how the adoption affects bank size distribution. Applying the theory to an empirical study of Internet banking diffusion among banks across 50 U.S. states, we examine the technological, economic and institutional factors governing the process. The empirical findings allow us to disentangle the interrelationship between Internet banking adoption and change in average bank ...
Journal Article
The 2001 survey of commercial banks in the Tenth Federal Reserve District : changes and challenges
Periodically, the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City surveys District bankers for their views on a variety of matters. In February 2001, we solicited banker opinion on a number of topics pertaining to deposit and loan competition, management and staffing challenges, Internet banking activities, funding options, operational issues, the effects of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, and near-term prospects. ; This essay briefly discusses the Tenth Districts geography, economics, and demographics and thereby provides context for the survey responses we received. It introduces subsequent articles that ...
Journal Article
What makes a bank efficient? : a look at financial characteristics and management and ownership structure
Increased competition, new technology, and bank consolidation are reinforcing the need for banks to operate efficiently. Moreover, recent research on banking efficiency shows that there is much room for reducing expenses and making better use of bank resources. This article compares the financial characteristics, as well as the management and ownership structure, of a sample of efficient and inefficient banks from the Tenth Federal Reserve District. The comparison reveals a number of factors that contribute to bank efficiency. ; Efficient banks control all aspects of costs, yet deliver bank ...
Working Paper
Who's minding the store? motivating and monitoring hired managers at small, closely held firms: the case of commercial banks
We test whether the gains from hiring an outside manager exceed the principal-agent costs of owner-manager separation at 266 small, closely held U.S. commercial banks. Our results suggest that hiring an outside manager can improve a bank's profit efficiency, but that these gains depend on aligning the hired managers with owners via managerial shareholdings. We find that over-utilizing this control mechanism results in entrenchment, while under-utilization is costly in terms of foregone profits. This study provides a relatively unfettered test of mitigating principal-agent costs, because these ...
Journal Article
Nonbanks in the payments system: innovation, competition, and risk - a conference summary
From the early days of automated card sorting to the more recent times of the Internet and check imaging, payments and payments processing have continually embraced new technology. At the same time, the industry has been shaped by its share of entry and exit, through startups, mergers, and the reorganization of businesses seeking the proper scope of horizontal and vertical integration. ; These changes have enabled nonbank organizations to play a larger role in the payments system. Nonbanks have followed a number of pathways to more prominence: purchasing bank payment processing subsidiaries, ...
Journal Article
Technology Diffusion: The Case of Internet Banking
Taking internet banking as an example, we study diffusion of cost-saving technological innovations. We show that the diffusion of internet banking follows an S-shaped logistic curve as it penetrates a log-logistic bank-size distribution. We test the theoretical hypothesis with an empirical study of internet banking diffusion among banks across fifty U.S. states. Using an instrument-variable approach, we estimate the positive effect of average bank size on internet banking diffusion. The empirical findings allow us to examine the technological, economic, and institutional factors governing the ...
Journal Article
The outlook for the U.S. banking industry : what does the experience of the 1980s and 1990s tell us?
In many respects, the 1980s appear to be the worst decade in banking since the Great Depression, while the 1990s could be rated as the best. Over 1,100 commercial banks failed or needed FDIC assistance during the 1980s, and significant parts of the thrift industry became insolvent and had to be resolved, costing taxpayers $125 billion. In contrast, the banking industry began a dramatic recovery in the first half of 1990s and has recently achieved record profitability, extremely low levels of loan losses, and the highest capital ratios since the early 1940s. As a result, the number of banks ...
Journal Article
How has the adoption of Internet banking affected performance and risk in banks?
Analysis of banks in Tenth District states that have adopted Internet banking shows an adoption rate that is similar to the rate for the United States. Community banks, especially in rural areas, are lagging behind other banks in introducing Internet banking. ; Banks that have adopted Internet banking have introduced it in markets with demographic and economic characteristics that help to ensure customer acceptance. They have also used the Internet in a way that complements their business strategy. Banks who offer Internet banking rely more on non-core funding, and are developing the Internet ...