How do banks react to increased interbank competition? Recent banking theory offers conflicting predictions about the impact of competition on bank orientation - i.e., the choice of relationship based versus transactional banking - and bank industry specialization. We empirically investigate the...

This paper tests how competition in local U.S. banking markets affects the market structure of non- financial sectors. Theory offers competing hypotheses about how competition ought to influence firm entry and access to bank credit by mature firms. Using data on U.S. local markets for banking...

Portugal’s financial system is sound, well-managed and competitive, with shorter-term risks and vulnerabilities well contained, and with the system buttressed by a strong financial policy framework. Portuguese banks’ profitability, asset quality, and solvency have held up well in...

The paper examines the slowdown of lending by large U.S. banks over the period 2007Q3 - 2009Q2, focusing on: (i) whether capital or liquidity was the binding constraint; (ii) factors influencing banks’ decision to hold capital; and (iii) their pricing behavior. Using quarterly data for...

At present West European banks are increasingly branching out into asset management as well as the consulting business, which cannot be directly influenced by monetary controls. We have therefore carried out a regression analysis and a factor analysis of banks' balance-sheet items, and we have...