In recent quarters, the capital strength of the U.S. banking system has been improving rapidly in response to both regulatory pressures and business incentives. This article examines the different methods by which individual bank holding companies have increased their capital ratios and the...

The most dramatic development in banking in recent years has been the rise of bank holding companies. More than 1,750 of these banking operations now control most of America's bank assets and deposits.

The commercial banking system in this country has undergone an unparalleled consolidation movement since the mid-1960's.

In this article, we critically examine two policies designed to protect the deposit insurance funds—the Federal Reserve Board’s source-of-strength policy and the FDIC’s cross-guarantee authority. We discuss why each of the policies was adopted and how effective each has been in practice...

U.S. bank holding companies (BHCs) have developed a very significant nonbank footprint over the years, adding thousands of specialty lenders, brokers and dealers, asset management, and insurance subsidiaries to their organizations. These nonbank subsidiaries represent a sizeable share of...