“Banks” are regulated by the government. However, because the generic term bank applies to a number of different types of financial institutions that provide different services, different types of regulation are required. This issue has attracted much attention in recent years as...

This article summarizes a conference, titled “Issues Related to Central Counterparty Clearing,” cosponsored by the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago and the European Central Bank on April 3–4, 2006. The conference brought together industry executives, policymakers, and research economists to...

Polish banks have been weakened by large loan losses and low capital. Recapitalization and better economic conditions have strengthened the industry, but problems remain, especially among some large state-owned banks. Continued improvement of the banking system will require additional domestic...

The Second Bank of the United States was an institution of first-rank importance, both politically and economically, during the early nineteenth century. This article uses recent contributions to theory on industrial organization and monetary economics to argue tentatively that conflict between...

Foreign penetration of U.S. wholesale banking already exceeds that of most other industry groups; unless market capitalization ratios for U.S. banks go up—or down for foreign banks—this trend is likely to continue.

In the second of two articles, the authors show that the business strategy chosen by a commercial banking company can have a substantial impact on its risk-return profile. Their analysis suggests that a wide variety of business strategies are likely to be financially viable in the future but,...

How do we measure in the banking industry? This article provides an overview of the methodology currently used in competitive analysis and highlights an alternative techniques that could be used to complement this methodology. Given the ongoing process of consolidation in U.S. banking, assessing...