[...]The purpose of this article is to develop a clearerpicture of the importance of payments services to the bankingindustry. This goal is served by taking a broad view of thepayments business and analyzing information provided bylarge bank holding companies (BHCs) in their annualreports. BHCs...

In the view of most policymakers and economists,competition in retail banking takes place in localmarkets covering a relatively small geographic area.Banks are thought to design their services and settheir loan and deposit rates in response to the supply anddemand conditions prevailing in a...