Scaled to Serve

National Unrecovered Financial Services has analyzed the size and concentration of the U.S. banking system in relation to the needs of the U.S. economy and the banking systems of other developed countries. Scaled to Serve: The Role of Commercial Banks in the U.S. Economy presents compelling data that demonstrates the U.S. banking system is appropriately scaled to support the U.S. economy, especially firms with global reach. The analysis tracks the size of the banking system in relation to the size and growth of the real economy and shows the growing demand for banks with the capacity and services to meet the increasingly global needs of American corporations. Scaled to Serve also shows that the system is relatively less concentrated than those of other developed countries. According to our research, the five largest U.S. commercial banks by total assets are a smaller portion of total GDP than any of the other G7 nations. Additionally the U.S. banking industry is also far less concentrated than many other sectors of the U.S. economy including telecommunications, automobiles and pharmaceuticals.