Retail Banking in European Financial Integration Suomen Pankki 0:077 1993
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Suomen Pankin kirjasto 111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111 0000041376 IVA5a Kirjasto: alaholvi SUOMEN PANKKI 0 Retail banking in European financial integration Suomen Pankki 0:077 1993 roKKA VESALA Retail Banking in European Financial Integration BANK OF FINLAND 1993 D:7' Retail Banking in European Financial Integration JUKKA VESALA Retail Banking in European Financial Integration BANK OF FINLAND Helsinki' 1993 . D:77 ISBN 951-686-378-7 ISSN 0355-6042 Preface A major part of the EC legislation creating the Single Market for banking services has been in force in the Community from 1 January 1993. One example of such legislation is the recognition of a single banking licence in all member states. The EEA agreement will extend practically all of this legislation to the EFTA countri~s other than Switzerland. The economic consequence of this is that the' legal and administrative barrlers to the free cross-border supply of banking services have now been by and large lifted, which paves the way to an increase in the level of banking competition and the associated welfare gains. Furthermore, the harmonization of the key elements of banking regulation - though stiU incomplete in important respects - is creating equal competitive conditions for all credit institutions in the Single Market area. Increasing foreign competition would increase the importance of domestic banks' competitiveness (especially their cost efficiency) and therefore put pressure on inefficient banks and banking systems to restructure. Two caveats are worth mentioning. First, convergence in legal conditions does not necessarily mean economic integration. There are impediments to increases in foreign (and domestic) competition related to banking industry characteristics and banks' strategic countering of changes in their legal environment, which can sustain market segmentation, particularly in retail banking. Secondly, recent changes in banking market structures and competitive behaviour in Europe are not all related to progress in integration - though this has naturally been one of the major underlying forces. Other important forces are financial market liberalization and technological developments. This volume surveys the related literature and draws on industrial economics with the aim of analysing the key micro-level economic issues concerning banking integration - thus broadening the current discussion. It also inc1udes a large amount of descriptive information on the regulatory issues and recent structural changes in European banking markets as well as data for comparing the banking systems of the forthcoming EEA states. This should prove to be useful background material, in a compact form, for anyone requiring an extensive review or detailed information. 5 The study was prepared in the Bank of Finland Research Department. It contributes to an extensive research proj"ect on European financial integration "European Financial Market" being conducted by the Institute of Intemational Economic Law (KATTI) of the University of Helsinki. Helsinki, October 1993 Heikki Koskenkylä Head of Research Department 6 Contents Preface 5 Glossary 11 Introduction 13 1 The economics of banking regulation and EC banking legislation 18 1.1 The economic grounds for banking regulation 19 1.1.1 Financial intermediation and asymmetric information - a brief review 19 1.1.2 Economic services provided by banks 21 1.1.3 Market failure - the need for banking regulation 24 1.1.4 Regulatory failure and proposed remedies 27 1.2 Towards a Single Financial Market in Europe 30 1.2.1 Cornerstones of the Internai Market Programme for banking services 32 1.2.2 Minimum harmonization of banking legislation 35 1.2.2.1 Directives on prudential regulations in force on 1 January 1993 37 1.2.2.2 Rulings on large exposures and deposit guarantee schemes 39 1.2.3 Treatment of credit institutions from third countries 40 1.2.4 EC legislation conceming UCITS and investment firms 41 1.2.5 Outline of the implications of "1992" for credit institutions 44 1.3 Major legal discrepancies remaining after 1 January 1993 45 2 Institutional and regulatory framework in national banking markets 51 2.1 Overview of national banking deregulation in the 1980s 51 2.2 Institutional structure and deregulation in major EC banking industries 53 7 2.2.1 France 53 2.2.2 Italy 56 2.2.3 Germany 58 2.2.4 The United Kingdom 63 2.2.5 Spain 65 2.3 Institutional structure and deregulation in banking industries of Finland and Sweden 68 2.3.1 Finland 68 2.3.1.1 Institutional and legal framework 68 2.3.1.2 Deregulation of the Finnish banking industry 72 2.3.1.3 Characferistic features of the Finnish banking system 73 2.3.2 Sweden 75 2.3.2.1 Institutional and legal framework 75 2.3.2.2 Deregulation of the Swedish banking industry 78 3 Recent supply-side changes in European banking and related issues of market integration 81 3.1 Scale of banking operations in the Single Market - an overview 82 3.1.1 "Determinants" of optimal scale 82 3.1.2 Motives for and means of expanding banking operations cross-border 85 3.2 Production economies in banking - theoretical issues and empirical findings 86 3.2.1 Concepts of production economies in banking 86 3.2.2 Sources of scale and scope economies in banking 87 3.2.3 Empirica1 evidence of scale and scope . economies in banking 89 3.2.4 Cost inefficiencies in the production of bank services 92 3.3 Recent structural changes in European banking industries 93 3.3.1 Mergers, acquisitions and cooperation agreements in the 1980s 93 3.3.1.1 Domestic restructuring 94 3.3.1.2 Cross-border deals 96 8 3.3.2 Universal vs. specialized banking in Europe - recent trends 100 3.3.2.1 Universal banking and business diversification 100 3.3.2.2 Universal·vs. specialized retail banking 103 3.3.3 Developments iri. the mutual institutions sector 105 3.3.3.1 Underlying developments and motives· for restructuring 105 3.3.3.2 Country-specific developments 108 3.4 Summary of the structural trends inEuropean banking 112 3.5 Service capacity and resource employment in European banking systems 114 3.5.1 Differences in service capacities 114 3.5.2 Underlying factors explaining observed capacity differences 116 3.6 Efficiency and technologicallevels in European banking industries 121 3.6.1 Efficiency concepts 121 3.6.2 Operating efficiencies in European banking industrles 122 3.6.3 Level of banking technology in European countries 124 3.6.4 Financial innovation and efficiency in banking 127 4 Competition, strategic conduct and barriers to entry in the Single Banking Market 129 4.1 Intermediation margins and profitability in . _European banking industries 130 4.1.1 Differences in prices for banking services 130 -- - -. -. -- 4.1.2 Evolution of mark-ups in retail deposit and loan markets 133 4.1.3 Banks' aggregate profitability 135 4.1.4 Competitive pressures in European banking markets - asummary 139 4.2 Contestability of banking markets - concepts and evidence 140 4.2.1 Characteristics of contestable markets and direct evide~ce for banking 140 4.2.2 SCP-paradigm, contestability and barriers to entry - empirical evidence 142 9 4.3 Economic barriers to entry in retail banking 147 4.3.1 Economic barriers stemming from the Supply-side 148 4.3.2 Economic barriers stemming from the demand-side 151 4.4 Strategic barriers to entry in retail banking 154 4.4.1 "Supply-side" strategies 156 4.4.1.1 Strategic expansion 156 4.4.1.2 Explicit and implicit collusion 157 4.4.1.3 Network blocking 159 4.4.2 "Demand-side" strategies 163 5 Conc1usions - competitive and welfare effects of banking integration 166 5.1 Competitiveness of the European retail banking industries 166 5.2 On the welfare effects of banking integration 167 5.2.1 Barriers to entry in retail banking ---...: will contestability be achieved? 169 5.2.2 The effect of integration on banks' strategies 171 5.3 Some notes on the impact of EMU 172 5.4 Final remark 173 Bibliography 174 Appendices 1-6 185 10 Glossary B Belgium 1) 1)enrnark F France G Germany 1 Italy Nl the Netherlands E Spain UI( the United Kingdom A Austria Fin Finland N (or Nor) Norway S Svveden Svvi Svvitzerland BIS Bank for International Settlements EC European Community ECU European Currency Unit EEA European Economic Area EFTA European Free Trade Association EMU Economic and Monetary Union UCITS Undertakings for Collective Investments in Transferable Securities 11 .' Introduction The aim of this study is to survey the competitive and structural effects of European finanGial integration on banking in the forthcoming European Economic Area, where legal impediments to free cross-border provision of banking services will be largely abolished by the legal measures adopted in the EC. The Single Banking Market came into being in the EC on 1 January 1993, and will be extended to inc1ude the EFTA countries when the EEA Agreement enters into force, with the exception of Swizerland, where the agreement has been rejected in a national referendum. A further aim is to comment on the potential industry-specific efficiency and welfare gains and thei! distribution across countries, which are contingent on the expected competitive and structural consequences of banking integration. These gains constitute the basic economic motive behind the Intemal Market Programme of the EC. Insurance firms and other non-bank financial institutions are exc1uded from the study. By convention, we divide banking operations into wholesale, corporate and retail banking (see e.g. Dixon, 1991). Wholesale operations are defined to comprise interbank trade in marketable instruments - chiefly banks' certificates of deposit - which constitutes banks' liquidity management, Le. the raising and investing funds. Corporate banking refers to all services provided to firms and retail banking to those provided to individuals and households.