Alternative Forms of Mixing Banking with Commerce: Evidence from American History

49 Pages Posted: 28 Mar 2002

See all articles by Joseph G. Haubrich

Joseph G. Haubrich

Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland

João A. C. Santos

Federal Reserve Bank of New York; Nova School of Business and Economics

Multiple version iconThere are 2 versions of this paper

Date Written: February 2003

Abstract

Much of the discussion about banking and commerce in America has failed to make several crucial distinctions and has not accounted for many arrangements that have promoted the mixing of these activities. We investigate the history of banking and commerce in the United States, looking both at bank control of commercial firms and commercial firms' control of banks. We trace how these controls have changed with shifting definitions of "bank" and changing methods of "control." Despite the regulations prohibiting some arrangements that promote financial control, we find evidence of extensive linkages between banking and commerce in the United States. These linkages usually build on devices that are very close substitutes to the arrangements prohibited by law. Altogether, our findings question the often made claim that traditionally banking in the United States has been separated from commerce. Furthermore, given that research on Japan and Germany has shown that the mixing of banking and commerce matters for a variety of issues, our evidence also raises some questions on similar research in the United States which makes the simplifying assumption that these industries are separated.

Keywords: Banking, commerce, equity investments, trust departments, director interlocks

JEL Classification: G21, G28, N21, N22

Suggested Citation

Haubrich, Joseph G. and Santos, João A. C., Alternative Forms of Mixing Banking with Commerce: Evidence from American History (February 2003). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=305281 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.305281

Joseph G. Haubrich

Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland ( email )

East 6th & Superior
Cleveland, OH 44101-1387
United States
216-579-2802 (Phone)
216-579-3050 (Fax)

João A. C. Santos (Contact Author)

Federal Reserve Bank of New York ( email )

33 Liberty Street
New York, NY 10045
United States
212-720-5583 (Phone)
212-720-8363 (Fax)

HOME PAGE: http://HTTP://WWW.NEWYORKFED.ORG/RMAGHOME/ECONOMIST/SANTOS/CONTACT.HTML

Nova School of Business and Economics ( email )

Campus de Carcavelos
Rua da Holanda, 1
Carcavelos, 2775-405
Portugal

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