Universal Banking in the United States

Universal Banking in the United States is an excellent book that provides a careful, in-depth analysis of the case for and against a shift to universal banking in the US...Quite readable and extremely interesting. It is of interest to a wide audience, including bankers, regulators, and lobbyists, and should be read by every US legislator.That powers will be expanded for U.S. banks is a foregone conclusion, the only question is when and how. In this book, Saunders and Walter provide bankers, regulators, and the public with a roadmap of both the consequences of permitting banks to offer different types of new activities and the experiences of foreign countries with alternative forms of universal banking.
The authors explain why and how the U.S. can benefit from adopting a regulatory structure that simultaneously relaxes restraints on the activities of private institutions and tightens restraints on these institutions' government supervisors. The key to safely unfettering government-guaranteed private players is to ensure that sensible capital requirements are formulated and enforced.They provide a wide-ranging, detailed survey of institutional differences in regulation and business practices of banking systems in various countries.This is a commendable book full of useful information, which provides a wealth of careful and accessible analysis for public policy makers, scholars, and graduate students interested in bank regulatory reform.