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Contribution Details

Type Journal Article
Scope Discipline-based scholarship
Title The Impact of Technology and Regulation on the Geographical Scope of Banking
Organization Unit
Authors
  • Hans Degryse
  • Steven Ongena
Item Subtype Original Work
Refereed Yes
Status Published in final form
Language
  • English
Journal Title Oxford Review of Economic Policy
Publisher Oxford University Press
Geographical Reach international
ISSN 0266-903X
Volume 20
Number 4
Page Range 571 - 590
Date 2004
Abstract Text We review how technological advances and changes in regulation may shape the (future) geographical scope of banking. We first review how both physical distance and the presence of borders currently affect bank lending conditions (loan pricing and credit availability) and market presence (branching and servicing). Next we discuss how technology and regulation have altered this impact and analyse the current state of the European banking sector. We discuss both theoretical contributions and empirical work and highlight open questions along the way. We draw three main lessons from the current theoretical and empirical literature: (i) bank lending to small businesses in Europe may be characterized both by (local) spatial pricing and resilient (regional and/or national) market segmentation; (ii) because of informational asymmetries in the retail market, bank mergers and acquisitions seem the optimal route of entering another market, long before cross-border servicing or direct entry are economically feasible; and (iii) current technological and regulatory developments may, to a large extent, remain impotent in further dismantling the various residual but mutually reinforcing frictions in the retail banking markets in Europe. We conclude the paper by offering pertinent policy recommendations based on these three lessons.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1093/oxrep/grh033
Other Identification Number merlin-id:11789
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