Electronic banking may prove to be important in the analysis of the competitive implications of bank mergers and acquisitions. A cornerstone of our current approach for enforcing the antitrust laws is the definition of a local geographic market for the cluster of bank products and services - primarily insured accounts and loans and transaction services to small businesses.
On-line banking conducted via a household’s or a small business’ personal computer has obvious possible implications for the reasonableness of using a local geographic market. While current usage of PC banking is too small to affect our methodology significantly, in my judgment this is clearly an area that we need to monitor and study, and, if necessary, be prepared to adapt our procedures accordingly.