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Competition Policy in Banking and Financial Services

Kevin Davis

Commonwealth Bank Chair of Finance, University of Melbourne

Director, Melbourne Centre for Financial Services

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The Issues

• Are there special features of the finance sector important for competition policy?

• How have attitudes to entry changed over time?• How is the market defined?• What is evidence on market concentration trends?• How do we assess the extent and effects of competition• Who’s involved in competition policy?• What types of policies are in place?

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Special features of the finance sector

• Strategic role in economy• Managing orderly exit of failures and prudential

regulation• Financial stability• Economies of scale and scope• International trade in financial services• Consumer information and switching costs• Networks and information sharing

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Finance, Growth and Policy

• Substantial evidence supporting hypothesis that financial development is a causal factor in economic growth

• Little evidence on mechanisms– And thus limited policy guidance

• Pre-Asian crisis reform involved reduction of “economic regulation”– Inadequate attention paid to “Health, Safety,

Environment” and “Information” Regulation

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Changing Focus

• Increasing focus on HSE and Information regulation• Less emphasis on “economic regulation”• General acceptance of view that improvement of

“core financial infrastructure” is needed for success

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How is the market defined?

• In principle, need to focus on performance of economic functions– Done in different ways through different

services/products provided by range of different types of institutions

• In practice– Geography v product v customer type– Banking v Funds Management v Superannuation

v Insurance v……

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Evidence on market concentration trends

• Australia• Internationally• Increased role of multinational banks• Vertical integration in the financial services supply

chain

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Multinational Bank Growth

2005 1995 1985 Largest bank’s assets /G7 GDP 5.9% 2.6% 2.1% Top 10 banks’ assets / G7 GDP 60.9% 33.9% 41.3% Top 10 banks’ assets /world GDP 36.9% 22.5% 25.7%

• Substantial Merger Activity Ongoing– Cross border– In recent years, fewer number, but larger value

• International Expansion numbers– Acquisitions > new branches > new subsidiaries

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Consolidation v ConcentrationBank Concentration: OECD Countries 1995 v 2005

Share of Assets of largest 3 Commercial Banks

0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.9

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0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1

2005

1995

CHE

ESP

ITA

POL

IRL

CZE

GRC

NZL NOR

PRT

LUX

USA

JPN

Reduced Concentration

Increased Concentration

No general sign of increased concentrationAlso, no apparent relationship between foreign bank share and concentration

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Increasing Role of Foreign Banks

• Central/Eastern Europe– Minimal in 1990, 80+% of bank assets in 2004

• Asia (excluding Singapore/ Hong Kong)– Minimal in 1990, most increase (to 20% of bank assets in

Malaysia and Thailand– Singapore / HK substantial, but has declined

• Latin America– Minimal in 1990, increased to around 40%

• Source: Domanski (BIS Quarterly Review (Dec 2005)

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Foreign Bank Entry – Benefits / Costs

• Higher international diversification – lower risk– But complications for prudential regulation

• Export of skills to exploit competitive advantages– But introduces possible issues associated with

growth/survival of domestically owned institutions

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Assessing competition

• Applicability of concentration measures• Simple indicators

– Interest rate margins– profitability

• Technical measures (H-statistic)

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Competition policy responsibility

• Possible roles for– Competition authority– Prudential regulator– Securities regulator– Central Bank– Treasury/Ministry of Finance– Politicians

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What types of policies are in place?

• Minimum entry requirements (capital, governance etc)

• Restrictions on international entry • Merger restrictions• Shareholdings restrictions