The Impact of Geographic Deregulation on the American Banking Industry

With the passage of the Riegle-Neal Interstate Banking and Branching Efficiency Act in 1994, some Americans celebrated the dawn of a new banking era. This law represented the first revision of the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933. In the intervening sixty years, the U.S. banking industry had undergone dramatic changes, both domestically and internationally, and yet the laws associated with banking remained fixed and intransigent. The new legislation represented a rapid realignment of American banking laws with societal norms; as such, it generated confusion and uncertainty for many bankers and their constituents, for example, stockholders, customers, and employees. Matasar and Heiney examine public data since 1994 in an effort to fully apprise scholars and practitioners of the changes that have irrevocably altered the landscape of American banking.

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Provides a foundation for understanding the dramatic impact of the Riegle-Neal Interstate Banking and Branching Efficiency Act of 1994, the first revision of the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933.

ANN B. MATASAR is Amoco Distinguished Professor of International Business at the Walter E. Heller College of Business Administration, Roosevelt University, in Chicago.JOSEPH N. HEINEY is Professor of Economics in the Center for Business and Economics at Elmhurst College in Elmhurst, Illinois. He previously held the positions of Director of the Center for Business and Economics, and Coleman Foundation Distinguished Chair of Business.