Yet, over the past decade, roughly 90 percent of bank mergers have involved a target with less than $ billion in assets, and three-quarters have involved an acquiree with assets of less than $ million. This ongoing consolidation of the U.S. banking system has not, in my judgment, harmed the overall competitiveness of our banking and financial markets.
Although they have facilitated consolidation, the reduced barriers to entry - such as were provided by the Riegle-Neal Act’s relaxation of interstate banking laws - have provided net competitive benefits to U.S. consumers of financial services. Other economic forces, such as technological change and globalization, have stimulated competition among depository institutions and between depositories and nonbank providers of financial services.