U.S. banks have increasingly diversified into activities traditionally considered as non-core for the banking sector. This paper investigates whether diversification influences banks' investment (credit) policy and profitability. Diversified banks appear to benefit from “coinsurance,” supply...

In view of preliminary lessons learnt from the global financial crisis since 2007, the paper develops a conceptual framework for the functional analysis of bank insolvency regimes and, against this background, analyses a package of reforms adopted in Germany in 2010