Antitrust and Banking

• DOI: 10.1177/0003603X9604100211
• Author: Anne K. Bingaman
• Published date: 01 June 1996
• Date: 01 June 1996
• Subject Matter: Article

The Antitrust Bulletin/Summer 1996

Antitrust and banking

BY

ANNE

K. BINGAMAN*

465

When Gene Ludwig invited me to participate in this conference

on antitrust and banking, Iaccepted with enthusiasm. Banking is

important. It has been, and will continue to be an industry whose

financial soundness and competitive structure are essential to the

fulfillment

of

our nation's economic potential. American con-

sumers and businesses rely on the availability of credit. And expe-

rience clearly indicates that where there are multiple competing

sources

of

credit, prices of financial services tend to be lower.

Moreover, where rivalry exists, consumers and businesses also

benefit

from better quality and greater innovation in financial

services.

The

economic

role

of

banks,

however,

is

the

subject

of

change. Nonbank rivals provide some services that used to be the

exclusive domain of banks, and technology changes the manner in

which various financial services are offered to the public. Both

the outcome of these changes and the manner in which they will

*Assistant Attorney General, Antitrust Division, U.S. Department

of Justice.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Address before the Conference on Antitrust

and

Banking

sponsored by the Office

of

the Comptroller

of

the Currency, Washington,

DC, Nov. 16, 1995.

© 1996 by Federal Legal Publications, Inc.