The Competitiveness Impact of the Territorial and Sectoral Entry Barriers: Evidence from the US Banking Sector

This paper assesses the impact of the removal of the entry barriers promoted by the Grimm-Leach-Biley Act and the Riegle-Neal Act on the Persistence of Profits of the US banking sector. To accomplish this task, the research performs a multivariate regression analysis through a Fully Modified OLS estimator on quarterly time-series data. Results suggest that the abatement of the interstate entry barriers established by the Rigle-Neal Act reduced the competitiveness of the banking market, as it favored the enlargement of the bank holding companies, while the elimination of the sectoral entry barriers achieved through the Grimm-Leach-Biley Act played no role.