If You Ask Me: A Global Banker Reflects on Our Times

Wriston, Walter B.

2007

Competition Keeps You Awake

 

How would the individual bank customer stand to benefit by having consumer-type services delivered across state lines? After you've done that, what good is it?

If you're honest on this subject, you have to admit that the biggest monopoly in the world is a small town bank. Living in New York City where there's a branch of some bank on every corner, it's difficult to believe. But those of you who grew up in small towns with one bank, know what I mean.

We once had a Congressman, named Wright Patman, who grew up in Texarkana (pop. 21,000) where the only bank in town paid 2 percent on savings accounts. It didn't know any better, because there wasn't any competition. This gave the Congressman a rather jaundiced view of all banks, which he enjoyed sharing with us after he got to be chairman of the House Banking and Currency Committee.

I think that bank competition--like all competition--is good for the banks and good for consumers. We have a laboratory example in California, where the Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Crocker, and the Bank of California bring extra dimensions of competitive service to small towns.

Another banker across the street may not be more skilled, but it keeps both of you wide awake and trying a little bit harder to win customers. That's what I think will happen in dozens and dozens of smaller towns across the country.

 
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  • The document was created from a compilation of interviews and question and answer segments with Walter B. Wriston which was later compiled into "If You Ask Me: A Global Banker Reflects on Our Times" in 1980. The original speech is located in MS134.001.034.00018.
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 Title Page
If You Ask Me: A Global Banker Reflects on Our Times
Rationale
I: Getting Down to Fundamentals
The Big Cop-out
You Can't Go Bail for Everyone
Risk Is What It's All About
II: Some Basic Ills of the Body Politic
Lincoln Wouldn't Have Made It
Unpredictable Is a Dangerous Country
The Pitfalls of Single-issue Politics
Expect To Get Zapped
The Perils of Legal Pollution
The Injustice of Our Tax System
Those Wonderful People Who Bring You Inflation
Stop the Presses
Silly Premises Lead to Nutty Conclusions
Easier Said Than Done
III: New York, New York
New York City Is Alive And Well
The Road Back
IV: Careers
Rx for Happiness
Good Forward Planning
Dull Job?
A Simple Matter of Survival
Making It at Citibank
What Fast Track?
No Hiding Place
V: Once Around the World Quickly
South Africa
China: A Matter of Timing
The Real Significance of Iran
Iran and the Money Markets
Fashions in Country-criticizing
VI: The Global Financial Scene
The Elusive Eurodollar
De Facto Payments Mechanism
Too Big To Move
The Foreign Exchange Game
They Can't Leave the System
Baskets of Money
Swiss Francs
The Value of a Dollar
Not a Loss Since 1897
A Rational View of LDC Loans
Free Trade Benefits Consumers
The Destructive Costs of Regulation
The Big Rip-off
A Real Entitlement
Can Regulations Prevent Bum Loans?
The Insidious Side of Controls
Competition in Regulation
VIII: The Shape of Things To Come
Not As Big As You Think
What Lobby?
Armageddon Is Late, as Usual
Some Simple Facts about Interest Rates
An Expensive Luxury
How Big Is Big?
What We Did Yesterday Won't Work Tomorrow
A Matter of Semantics
Unpredictable Is a Dangerous Country
Privacy: A Serious Problem
The Unseen Revolution
Things Are Going To Be Different
Take the Handcuffs off Everybody
The Gray Areas of Lending
No Mouse under the Rug
Thank God We Don't Have National Banking
Competition Keeps You Awake
Accounting for Loan Losses
Not a Utility
People Like It
Computer Frauds
Some Final Words on Responsibility
Sources
About the Author