Markets

The Making of the “Big Four” Banking Oligopoly in One Chart

Published

8 years ago

January 25, 2016

Jeff Desjardins

The Banking Oligopoly in One Chart

The “Big Four” retail banks in the United States collectively hold 45% of all customer bank deposits for a total of $4.6 trillion.

The fifth biggest retail bank, U.S. Bancorp, is nothing to sneeze at, either. It’s got 3,151 banking offices and employs 65,000 people. However, it still pales in comparison with the Big Four, holding only a mere $271 billion in deposits.

Today’s visualization looks at consolidation in the banking industry over the course of two decades. Between 1990 and 2010, eventually 37 banks would become JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and Citigroup.

Of particular importance to note is the frequency of consolidation during the 2008 Financial Crisis, when the Big Four were able to gobble up weaker competitors that were overexposed to subprime mortgages. Washington Mutual, Bear Stearns, Countrywide Financial, Merrill Lynch, and Wachovia were all acquired during this time under great duress.

The Big Four is not likely to be challenged anytime soon. In fact, the Federal Reserve has noted in a 2014 paper that the number of new bank charters has basically dropped to zero.

New bank charters

From 2009 to 2013, only seven new banks were formed.

“This dramatic reduction in new bank charters could be a concern for policymakers, if as some suggest, the decline has been caused by increased regulatory burden imposed in response to the financial crisis,” the authors of the Federal Reserve paper write.

Competition from small banks has dried up as a result. A study by George Mason University found that over the last 15 years, the amount of small banks in the country has decreased by -28%.

Number of large vs. small banks over 15 years

Big banks, on the other hand, are doing relatively quite well. There are now 33% more big banks today than there were in 2000.

Related Topics:banking big four consolidation jp morgan bank of america citi wells fargo

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The World’s Fastest Growing Emerging Markets (2024-2029 Forecast)

Here are the emerging markets with the fastest projected growth rates over the next five years based on analysis from the IMF.

Published

7 hours ago

May 2, 2024

Niccolo Conte

This bar chart shows the fastest growing emerging markets in the world between 2024 and 2029.

The World’s Fastest Growing Emerging Markets (2024-2029)

Large emerging markets are forecast to play a greater role in powering global economic growth in the future, driven by demographic shifts and a growing consumer class.

At the same time, many smaller nations are projected to see their economies grow at double the global average over the next five years due to rich natural resource deposits among other factors. That said, elevated debt levels do present risks to future economic activity.

This graphic shows the emerging markets with the fastest projected growth through to 2029, based on data from the International Monetary Fund’s 2024 World Economic Outlook.

Get the Key Insights of the IMF’s World Economic Outlook

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This visual is part of a special dispatch of the key takeaways exclusively for VC+ members.

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Top 10 Emerging Markets

Here are the fastest-growing emerging economies, based on real GDP compound annual growth rate (CAGR) forecasts over the period of 2024-2029:

Rank	Country	Projected CAGR (2024-2029)
1	🇬🇾 Guyana	19.8%
2	🇲🇿 Mozambique	7.9%
3	🇷🇼 Rwanda	7.2%
4	🇧🇩 Bangladesh	6.8%
5	🇪🇹 Ethiopia	6.7%
6	🇳🇪 Niger	6.7%
7	🇺🇬 Uganda	6.6%
8	🇮🇳 India	6.5%
9	🇻🇳 Vietnam	6.4%
10	🇸🇳 Senegal	6.3%

As South America’s third-smallest nation by land area, Guyana is projected to be the world’s fastest growing economy from now to 2029.

This is thanks to a significant discovery of oil deposits in 2015 by ExxonMobil, which has propelled the country’s economy to grow by fourfold over the last five years alone. By 2028, the nation of just 800,000 people is projected to have the highest crude oil production per capita, outpacing Kuwait for the first time.

Bangladesh, where 85% of exports are driven by the textiles industry, is forecast to see the strongest growth in Asia. In fact, over the last 30 years, the country of 170 million people has not had a single year of negative growth.

In eighth place overall is India, projected to achieve a 6.5% CAGR in real GDP through to 2029. This growth is forecast to be fueled by population trends, public investment, and strong consumer demand.