In the view of most policymakers and economists,competition in retail banking takes place in localmarkets covering a relatively small geographic area.Banks are thought to design their services and settheir loan and deposit rates in response to the supply anddemand conditions prevailing in a...

The largest U.S. commercial banks are currently in theprocess of restructuring their retail operations. A stagnantdeposit base and intense competition in the marketplacefor financial services have made the overhead costs of anextensive branch network increasingly onerous. At thesame time,...