Bankers and Nonbanks: A Run for the Money
For many years. commercial banks have competed in some product line, with other financial institutions such as S&Ls, mutual savings banks and credit unions. Recently, commercial banks have increasingly found themselves faced with new competitors- manufacturers such as General Motors Corporation. retailers such as Sears, Roebuck and Company and diversified financial concerns such as Merrill Lynch and American Express. This new mixed breed of nonbank financial companies and even nonfinancial companies has been encroaching on banks' "turf." Over the last decade, And banks, though constrained by regulations, have not willingly shared their traditional business of lending and deposit taking; rather, they have sought footholds in some of their new competitors' markets.
