A number of studies have argued that the thrift industry is not viable as it is presently structured and regulated because mortgage yields are inadequate to cover interest and operating costs. This hypothesis suggests that observed profitability is primarily the result of the tendency of the...

Gorton and Winton (1998) link the size of the banking system in transition economies to financial stability. We provide empirical evidence consistent with their notion that the size of the financial system will be smaller in these countries. This effect holds even after controlling for the...

The common view of many regulators and practitioners is that the minimum risk maturity gap is equal to zero. However, because of the interest sensitivity of such non‐gap items as the average spread between asset and liability rates, lending activity, fee income and prepayments, the minimum...