Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/60551 
Year of Publication: 
2005
Series/Report no.: 
Staff Report No. 233
Publisher: 
Federal Reserve Bank of New York, New York, NY
Abstract: 
The U.S. banking industry is experiencing a renewed focus on retail banking, a trend often attributed to the stability and profitability of retail activities. This paper examines the impact of banks' retail intensity on performance from 1997 to 2004 by developing three complementary definitions of retail intensity (retail loan share, retail deposit share, and branches per dollar of assets) and comparing these measures with both equity market and accounting measures of performance. We find that an increased focus on retail banking across U.S. banks is linked to significantly lower equity market and accounting returns for all banks but lower volatility for only the largest banking companies. We conclude that retail banking may be a relatively stable activity, but it is also a low-return one.
Subjects: 
retail banking
bank risk
banking
bank performance
risk and return
JEL: 
G21
L21
G32
Document Type: 
Working Paper

Files in This Item:
File
Size
253.47 kB





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.