Some critics pinned the blame for the lack of credit availability on mainstream financial institutions, which they characterized as willing to accept deposits from households and small businesses in lower-income neighborhoods but unwilling to lend or invest in those same neighborhoods despite the presence of creditworthy borrowers. Several social and economic factors help explain why credit to lower-income neighborhoods was limited at that time.
Insurance companies and securities firms have all experienced merger waves in recent years, though not to the extent of commercial banking. This more moderate pace of consolidation in nonbank financial industries is likely due to the absence of preexisting restrictions on geographic expansion.