Does Uniqueness in Banking Matter?
46 Pages Posted: 8 Aug 2017 Last revised: 23 Sep 2018
Date Written: September 12, 2018
Abstract
We investigate whether and how the uniqueness of banking activities affects the performance and systemic risk of U.S. banks. We find that banks performing more unique activities exhibit higher profitability and lower risk, controlling for size, diversification, and other key characteristics. We further find that banks’ sensitivity to systemic risk displays an inversely U-shaped relation with activity uniqueness. We interpret the impact of uniqueness in analogy to recent theories showing that systemic diversity promotes financial stability. Our study highlights the role of uniqueness in banking and has important implications for policy makers and banking regulators.
Keywords: Banks, Performance, Systemic Risk, Diversification, Diversity
JEL Classification: G20, G21
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation