Recently Posted
Report: Fewer Small Businesses are Receiving Federal Relief Loans in States Dominated by Big Banks
April 29, 2020
A significantly larger number of federal relief loans are reaching small businesses in states where small, local banks comprise a greater share of the market, compared to states where big banks are more dominant, an ILSR analysis has found. READ MORE
Featured
Distribution of Credit Card Loans by Banks Size, 1994-2018
Published by: ILSR
May 15th, 2019
Credit card lending has seen major growth in the past decades. With that growth has come almost unparalleled concentration. Today, about half of all credit cards are issued by giant banks, who also dominate the amount of total credit extended. That[...]
Number of New Banks Created by Year, 1993 to 2018
Published by: ILSR
May 14th, 2019
The number of community banks has declined sharply in the last decade. A significant share of the decline is owed to the fact that virtually no new banks have been created since 2009. Between 2004 and 2008, before the financial[...]
Share of Deposits by Size of Institution, 1994 to 2018
Published by: ILSR
May 14th, 2019
In 1994, giant banks, defined as those with over $100.2 million assets in 2018 dollars, held only a small portion of U.S. deposits. Today, they control 53 percent of the market, while small and mid-sized banks and credit unions have[...]
In Depth
Op-Ed in Fortune: The Hidden Price of Cashless Retail
April 3, 2019
In Fortune, we detail the growing cashless retail trend, steps cities and states are taking to regulate it, and the ultimate effect monopoly credit card companies like Visa and Mastercard have on small businesses and the economy at large. READ MORE
One in Four Local Banks Has Vanished since 2008. Here’s What’s Causing the Decline and Why We Should Treat It as a National Crisis.
May 5, 2015
The precipitous decline in the number of community banks in recent years is a national crisis, and there's a fierce debate underway right now about what's to blame. READ MORE
Understanding the Small Business Credit Crunch
April 16, 2014
Even as their big competitors are awash in capital, many locally owned businesses are struggling to secure the financing they need to grow. This analysis finds that, since 2000, bank lending to large businesses is up 36 percent, while READ MORE
How One State Escaped Wall Street's Rule and Created a Banking System That's 83% Locally Owned
September 1, 2015
North Dakota has a different kind of banking sector than the rest of the country does, with six times as many locally owned financial institutions per person as the rest of the U.S., and local institutions controlling 83 percent of READ MORE
Banking For the Rest of Us
ILSR
April 1, 2012
In this cover story for Sojourners Magazine, Stacy Mitchell writes that there is remarkably little evidence to support the idea that bigger banks are superior. They have come to dominate, not because they are more efficient or offer better services, READ MORE