Commercial Banks

Industry Profile Report

Dive Deep into the industry with a 25+ page industry report (pdf format) including the following chapters

Industry Overview Current Conditions, Industry Structure, How Firms Operate, Industry Trends, Credit Underwriting & Risks, and Industry Forecast.

Call Preparation Call Prep Questions, Industry Terms, and Weblinks.

Financial Insights Working Capital, Capital Financing, Business Valuation, and Financial Benchmarks.

Industry Profile Excerpts

Industry Overview

The 4,706 commercial banks in the US earn money by lending money at higher interest rates than the interest they pay to depositors. They may also earn money from fees and interest on credit card services, returns on investments in securities, fees for investment services, fees for treasury management services, and other account fees.

Burden of Regulatory Compliance Costs

The banking industry is highly regulated and regulations increased significantly following the financial crisis of 2008.

Fintech Competition Forces Innovation

Banks are seeing new competition from fintech start-ups, which have received tens of billions of dollars in venture capital funding over the past five years.

Industry size & Structure

The average commercial bank has 276 employees and generates $106 million in annual revenue.

    • There are 4,706 FDIC-insured commercial banks in the US. FDIC-insured banks have over 1.3 million employees, over $500 billion in annual revenue.
    • The FDIC-insured commercial banks in the US hold almost $24 trillion in assets.
    • There are about 4,560 FDIC-insured community banks that serve local markets and typically have less than $1 billion in assets. These community banks have over 392,700 employees and $2.5 trillion in assets.
    • There are 776 FDIC-insured commercial banks with $1 billion to $10 billion in assets.
    • There are 138 FDIC-insured commercial banks with $10 billion to $250 billion in assets.
    • There are 13 FDIC-insured commercial banks with over $250 billion in assets. These banks are defined as systemically important financial institutions (SIFI) under the revisions to the Dodd-Frank Act and are subject to more stringent regulation.
    • The largest US commercial banks by assets are JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Citigroup, US Bancorp, TD Group US Holdings, and PNC Financial Services Group.
                                  Industry Forecast
                                  Commercial Banks Industry Growth
                                  Source: Vertical IQ and Inforum

                                  Recent Developments

                                  Mar 9, 2024 - Banking Fees Increase
                                  • Commercial banks slightly increased their prices during 2023, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Industry employment decreased slightly during the period while wages for nonsupervisory employees increased slightly, according to the BLS. Commercial banking industry sales are forecast to grow at a 4.33% compounded annual rate from 2023 to 2027, comparable to the growth of the overall economy, according to Inforum and the Interindustry Economic Research Fund, Inc.
                                  • US banks closed some 222 branches in the first two months of 2024, according to the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. Bank of America, US Bank, and Citizens collectively accounted for nearly half of the closures - 92 over eight weeks. Banks are capitalizing on the capabilities of online banking, according to Steven Reider, founder and president of Bancography, a consulting firm that advises banks on branch planning and strategies. Online banking can lead to significant savings since the average freestanding bank branch costs around $2.6 million a year, according to Reider. Bank of America's 41 closures might have saved it almost $100 million in just two months.
                                  • About 19.6% of office space in major US cities wasn’t leased as of Q4 2023, according to Moody’s Analytics, up from 18.8% a year earlier. That is slightly above the previous records of 19.3% set in 1986 and 1991 and the highest number since at least 1979, which is as far back as Moody’s data go. Building owners that borrowed money to finance their properties are being squeezed by high interest rates and vacant offices as workers opt to work from home. Weak demand for offices could trigger a wave of borrowers to default on their loans and put pressure on banks and other lenders, which are hoping to avoid selling loans at significant discounts, according to Reuters news service.
                                  • The commercial real estate industry is bracing for trouble as the midsize banks that service it become less willing to lend, according to The New York Times. Used car loans are already more expensive, and a recent survey by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas showed a sizable share of banks in the region reporting stricter credit standards. Federal Reserve data on the banking system that was released on April 7 suggests that commercial and industrial lending and real estate lending both declined meaningfully through late March.
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