This study examines the firm size distribution of US financial institutions. A truncated lognormal distribution describes the size distribution, measured using assets data, of a large population of small, community-based commercial banks. The size distribution of a smaller but increasingly...

This paper uses hazard function estimations together with cross-sectional growth regressions to examine the impact of exit through merger and acquisition (M&A) or failure, and internally-generated growth, on the firm-size distribution of the US credit union industry. Consolidation through M&A...

This study uses survey data and Instrumental Variables (IV) methods to assess whether in the US, the prices of credit cards (annual percentage rates, APRs) reflect the short and long-term risks of cardholders (measured as unpaid credit card debt in the previous year, outstanding debt and FICO...

This study uses the VAR-BEKK methodology to examine the relationship between equity returns and currency exposure for a sample of U.S., U.K. and Japanese banks and insurance firms during 2003-2011. The findings indicate that banks' equity returns are negatively related to changes in foreign...

In the context of the debate on increased integration of Eurozone banking markets, this paper evaluates the impact of the Single Market on bank productivity and assesses the cross-border benefits of integration in terms of technological spillovers. We utilise a parametric meta-frontier Divisia...

This study examines the relative performance of Japanese cooperative banks between 1998 and 2009, explicitly modeling non-performing loans as an undesirable output. Three key findings emerge. First, the sector is characterized by increasing returns to scale which supports the ongoing...

This paper examines the determinants and convergence of bank profitability in eight European Union member countries, between 1992 and 2007, using a dynamic panel model. There is evidence of persistence of abnormal bank profit from one year to the next. Average profitability was higher in banks...

This paper investigates the profitability of City, Trust, Regional, Second Association Regional, Shinkin and Credit Cooperative banks following the major financial crisis that affected Japan in the mid 1990s. We find evidence that well capitalised, efficient banks, with lower credit risks tend...

Unparalleled turmoil in the banking system over the past two years has impacted severely on the UK's economic prospects. What was once a profitable, fastgrowing, dynamic and highly innovative banking sector has been publicly humiliated, while its lending capacity has stalled. This article...

This article provides an account of the development of the financial crisis in western Europe, primarily from a country-level and banking sector perspective, from 2007 to the spring of 2009. Measures enacted by governments and central banks to deal with impaired bank assets, recapitalize or...