Quite clearly, it is necessary to reduce such transaction costs to lower the cost of delivery of credit and cost of funds to the ultimate borrower in the agricultural sector. Unlicensed cooperative banks The deteriorating financial position of unlicensed cooperative banks is an issue of concern. Of the 402 cooperative banks in the country as on March 31, 2009, 313 were unlicenced.
BIS Review 90/1998  -2-  Much closer to home, we should also recall that the retail financial sector went through a phase of conglomeration about 15 years ago, in the movement toward the “financial supermarket”. The acquisitions of Coldwell Banker and Dean Witter by Sears, Shearson by American Express, Schwab by Bank of America, and Bache by Prudential come to mind.