From 37 to 4: The Consolidation of Banks

[OhioChick]

(From September)

Free market, you win again. Deregulation, you get the assist. Everyone else: losers.

In 1990 there were 37 major banks in America. By 1999 there were 21. Just 14 in 2003. Now, present day, there are just four. Four major banks for consumers to choose from — Citigroup, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and JP Morgan Chase — and we’d bet good money that number will be three soon.



Now, that’s not to say that consumers can’t pick from a myriad of smaller, local banks or credit unions, or just stash their cash in a sneaker box underneath the floorboards.

You’ll notice that in the late 1990s and early 2000s, when most of the consolidation began, it coincides with the 1999 Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, which repealed the 1933 Glass-Steagall Act. That act allowed financial institutions to be commercial banks, investment banks and insurance companies under one entity, with the theory that the banks would be too big to fail. So much for that.

http://hypervocal.com/politics/2011/from-37-to-4-the-consolidation-of-banks/

[Matariki]

1. Helpful to see that as a graphic

thanks for posting it.

[nc4bo]

2. Reminds me of the Who Owns The Media graphs....

Monopolies each and every one.

How have they benefited anyone other then themselves?

[snot]

3. K&R'd

[FarCenter]

4. You can still find plenty of big banks to deal with.

US Bancorp, PNC, Capital One, TD Bank, SunTrust, BB&T, Citzens, Regions, and Fifth Third all have from $320 to $110 billion in assets.

Northern Trust, Keycorp, RBC, Unionbancal, M&T, BMO, Bankwest, BBVA, Comerica, Huntington and Zions all have over $50 billion in assets.

There are 50 bank holding companies with assets over $18.8 billion.

http://www.ffiec.gov/nicpubweb/nicweb/top50form.aspx

[bvar22]

5. Paging Teddy Roosevelt.

It is well past time for some Old Fashioned Trust Busting.
And not just the Big Banks,
but across the board.


Solidarity99!
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