The United States still has a heavily paper-based retail payment system when compared with many other developed economies, but the shift to electronic payments has been bigger and more decisive than commonly perceived. For the first time ever, check use declined in the mid-1990s, and among...

Banking over the Internet is attracting a great deal of attention in the banking and regulatory communities, and developments in this new delivery channel are the subject of numerous articles in the banking press. Despite widespread interest in and concerns about this subject, there is little...

Abstract: It is by now commonly understood that healthy banking systems require not only more insightful regulation and supervision but a new emphasis on market discipline. In this regard a rapidly growing body of research has focused on both measures internal to the firm the bank –...

This paper provides detailed information on banking structure, permissible banking activities, regulatory structure, deposit insurance schemes, and supervisory practices in each of the 15 European Union countries, as well as in Canada, Japan, Switzerland, and the United States. Comparisons...

Banking and financial industry participants, analysts, and policy makers appreciate the fact that foreign banks play an important role in the U.S. financial system, but many lack a precise understanding of the size, composition, and impact of the foreign banking sector. In large measure, that...

After two decades of extreme turbulence in banking and financial markets around the world, it is reasonable to ask about the current status of banking regulation and supervision. Our unique starting point for answering that question comes from the fact that 20 years ago we developed the first...