Global Competition In Financial Services

financial markets suggests that factors such as differences in capital requirements, limi tations on size or on the range of financial activities in which firms can engage, govern ment guarantee arrangements for deposits or payments, and reporting or disclosure requirements can have important effects on the efficiency of industrial and commercial firms and thus on the international competitive positions of major sectors of the U.S. economy. Regulatory and tax policies must therefore take into account effects on inter national competitive positions in addition to domestic concerns. The articles in this issue analyze differences in market organization and regulation across countries and examine how efficiency in producing financial services is influenced by these differences. These articles were presented and discussed at a conference sponsored by the Amer ican Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C., on May 31 and June 1, 1990. This confer ence on International Competitiveness in Financial Services brought to the attention of Washington policy officials these analyses by leading scholars in finance. Publication of these studies and critiques in the Journal of Financial Services Research is intended to stimulate further interest in research on these important issues.

Competition in the financial sector, as in other sectors, matters for allocative, productive, and dynamic efficiency. Theory suggests, however, that unfettered competition is not necessarily best given the special features of financial services. The author discusses these analytical complications before reviewing how to assess competition in the financial sector and its determinants. It is shown that competitiveness varies greatly across countries, in perhaps surprising ways, and that it is not driven by financial system concentration. Rather, systems with greater foreign entry and fewer entry and activity restrictions tend to be more competitive, confirming that contestability--the lack of barriers to entry and exit--determines effective competition. The author then analyzes how competition policy in the financial sector has generally been conducted and how changes in competition in the financial services industries should affect competition policy going forward. In part based on comparison with other industries, the author provides some suggestions on how competition policy in the financial sector could be better approached as well as what institutional arrangements best fit a modern view of competition policy in the sector. The specific competition challenges for developing countries is also highlighted. The author concludes that practices today fall far short of the need for better competition policy in the financial sector.

"The relationships among competition in the financial sector, access of firms to external financing, and associated economic growth are ambiguous in theory. Moreover, measuring competition in the financial sector can be complex. In this paper Claessens and Laeven first estimate for 16 countries a measure of banking system competition based on industrial organization theory. They then relate this competition measure to growth of industries and find that greater competition in countries' banking systems allows financially dependent industries to grow faster. These results are robust under a variety of tests. The results suggest that the degree of competition is an important aspect of financial sector funding. This paper--a product of the Financial Sector Operations and Policy Department--is part of a larger effort in the department to study competition in banking"--World Bank web site.

Financial services businesses are leading the way towards the global economy, yet they are in a state of turbulence. Where financial services are today, other industries such as electronics, computers, telecommunications, and air transport will be in the near future. This book describes why this is happening and how companies are tackling the challenge of this volatile environment. The first part describes the causes of this volatility through new government regulations, shifts in customer behavior, the impact of new technology, and more aggressive global competition. The second part of the book contains case study material from international companies including managing the portfolio of a global financial services organization and corporate development for an international bank. Driving Strategic Change in Financial Services is an essential tool for understanding the global climate in financial services and for mastering the task of developing an international company. Executives, policy-makers, and managers in banking and other markets such as electronic commerce will find valuable insights and useful case material. Features

"Once upon a longish time ago, Swiss bankers were solemn men to whom you took the money stashed under your mattress so Oliver Landmann they could stash it under theirs. Not now". (The Economist, February 2nd, 1991) As The Economist has recognized, the banking business is subject to thorough change. Traditional competitive advantages are lost, new ones must be sought. And above all, the rapid globalization of fmancial markets in the recent past has greatly intensified international competition in banking. In view of these developments, the issue of competitiveness in banking has become an urgent research priority. The contributions collected in this conference volume present the ftrst results of a joint research project of the Labour and Industrial Economics Research Unit at the University of Basel, the International Centre for Monetary and Banking Studies, and the Graduate Institute for International Studies in Geneva on the Swiss Financial Sector. TIle Conference was held in Basel on May 16 - 17, 1991. The research project, directed by Professors Alexander Swoboda, Niklaus Blattner and Hans Genberg, is part of the National Research Programme Nr. 28, commissioned by the Swiss Government and administered by the Swiss National Science Foundation. The programme is devoted to the external economic challenges faced by Switzerland. The notion of competitiveness is at the very core of this research programme.