Geographic Banking Markets

Various U.S. regulatory agencies are responsible for preventing bank mergers and acquisitions that would have substantially negative effects on banking competition. Regulatory agencies identify relevant product and geographic markets to assess the competitive impact of proposed mergers and acquisitions. Supreme Court decisions indicate that commercial banking generally should be considered as a separate line of commerce, or product market, for antitrust purposes. Commercial banks traditionally offered customers a unique cluster of products that were not available from other institutions. Because of expanded powers, thrift institutions now operate more like commercial banks, becoming increasingly important suppliers of a wide range of financial services.