Roy Smith shows how the bases of banking competitiveness are changing, from the size of assets and profitable systems protected by regulation to market know-how, innovation, and technology. He reviews the U.S., European, and Japanese financial systems, and provides insights into their futures. European banks, he demonstrates, are in the early stages of a free-market renaissance for which many are ill-prepared. For the powerful German banks, events in Eastern Europe and eastern Germany will be a continuing distraction. Japanese banks and brokers, weakened by losses and scandal, have passed their peaks as superpowers. They now face major regulatory changes that will disrupt their once safe and profitable franchises. Smith foresees a revival in the competitive position of U.S. banking and finance. He shows how U.S. banking will split into two distinct parts: large, technologically advanced retail companies and market-oriented investment bankers and wholesalers.

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