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...

Interstate banking expanded rapidly over the last decade as all but a few states adopted laws allowing entry by outside organizations. The resulting changes are now raising many questions regarding the performance of interstate acquisitions and their effects on the banking system and its...

In recent years, growth in traditional deposit funding sources has failed to match the growth in assets at many banks. These funding shortfalls are raising a number of important concerns, including whether community banks will have to curtail lending to small businesses, farmers, and other local...

This article reviews banker experience with Internet banking based on responses to the 2001 Survey of Commercial Banks in the Tenth Federal Reserve District. The performance of bank Web sites (measured by customer enrollment, usage rate, fee revenues, and generation of new customers) has been...

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,...

We test some predictions about the effects of technological progress on geographic expansion using data on banks in U.S. multibank holding companies over 1985-1998. Specifically, we test whether over time (a) parental control over affiliate banks has increased, and (b) the agency costs...

In theory, Internet-only banks should have low overhead expenses, and thus should be able to charge better prices (lower fees, higher deposit rates, lower loan rates) and still earn normal profits. To test this theory, this study compares the financial performance of 10 new Internet-only banks...

Although the banking system appears to be safer and sounder today than it was two decades ago, new risk challenges have arisen that could not have been anticipated in the 1980s. This article outlines the fundamental structural changes in the U.S. commercial banking industry since then. ; The...