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A massively diverse and deregulated banking sector. The US has literally thousands of small regional banks across 50 fairly independent states. Rolling out ma

A massively diverse and deregulated banking sector. The US has literally thousands of small regional banks across 50 fairly independent states. Rolling out major new technologies in that environment is far far harder.

cubefox 3y ago
The number of banks in the US seems perfectly normal. Germany has ~1500 for 80 million inhabitants, the US has ~4800 for 300 million.
- BaseballPhysics 3y ago
  First, compared to the rest of the EU, Germany is a weird outlier with the number of banks they have (which, by the way, has been declining steadily for 15 years). Setting that aside, you missed the "deregulated" part. As I understand it (and I grant my understanding is pretty cursory) Germany has a much stronger central regulating body, and is subject to overall EU regulations as well. The US has multiple regional banking authorities and a ton of responsibility is delegated to the states, and in general government intervention is seen as a last resort. So it's both structural and cultural.
  - cubefox 3y ago
    > First, compared to the rest of the EU, Germany is a weird outlier with the number of banks they have (which, by the way, has been declining steadily for 15 years). Still, the absolute number itself seems to be not really the issue here. (I assume the number of US banks has similarly declined in the US, as fusions reduce cost.) > Setting that aside, you missed the "deregulated" part. Yeah, that part I don't object to.
    - deleted 3y ago
      [deleted]
  - _cenw 3y ago
    And also, a lot of german banks are actually federated with centralized IT departments (like Finanz Informatik) providing the entire bank as "blueprint". Yes, even if they aren't called Volksbank or Sparkasse. For instance, if you get an EC/GiroCard from DKB, the letter is suspiciously typeset in Sparkasse's corporate font.
- toomuchtodo 3y ago
  https://www.npr.org/2023/05/16/1176513695/does-the-u-s-have-too-many-banks https://www.npr.org/2023/05/16/1176513695/does-the-u-s-have-... https://www.marketplace.org/2023/05/05/heres-why-the-u-s-has-so-many-banks/ https://www.marketplace.org/2023/05/05/heres-why-the-u-s-has...
- tptacek 3y ago
  The US is 50 related but different regulatory regimes, not 1.
  - cubefox 3y ago
    Germany also has states, although they aren't as independent as US states. In an case the EU is much less unified than the US.
- TrackerFF 3y ago
  If Germany is anything like the Scandinavian countries, those banks will just be branches of a handful of different banks. We really don't have any microbanks that need to roll out their own tech for everything - most are just part of the larger banks, and get all the infrastructure provided for them.

cubefox 3y ago

The number of banks in the US seems perfectly normal. Germany has ~1500 for 80 million inhabitants, the US has ~4800 for 300 million.

BaseballPhysics 3y ago
First, compared to the rest of the EU, Germany is a weird outlier with the number of banks they have (which, by the way, has been declining steadily for 15 years). Setting that aside, you missed the "deregulated" part. As I understand it (and I grant my understanding is pretty cursory) Germany has a much stronger central regulating body, and is subject to overall EU regulations as well. The US has multiple regional banking authorities and a ton of responsibility is delegated to the states, and in general government intervention is seen as a last resort. So it's both structural and cultural.
- cubefox 3y ago
  > First, compared to the rest of the EU, Germany is a weird outlier with the number of banks they have (which, by the way, has been declining steadily for 15 years). Still, the absolute number itself seems to be not really the issue here. (I assume the number of US banks has similarly declined in the US, as fusions reduce cost.) > Setting that aside, you missed the "deregulated" part. Yeah, that part I don't object to.
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
- _cenw 3y ago
  And also, a lot of german banks are actually federated with centralized IT departments (like Finanz Informatik) providing the entire bank as "blueprint". Yes, even if they aren't called Volksbank or Sparkasse. For instance, if you get an EC/GiroCard from DKB, the letter is suspiciously typeset in Sparkasse's corporate font.
toomuchtodo 3y ago
https://www.npr.org/2023/05/16/1176513695/does-the-u-s-have-too-many-banks https://www.npr.org/2023/05/16/1176513695/does-the-u-s-have-... https://www.marketplace.org/2023/05/05/heres-why-the-u-s-has-so-many-banks/ https://www.marketplace.org/2023/05/05/heres-why-the-u-s-has...
tptacek 3y ago
The US is 50 related but different regulatory regimes, not 1.
- cubefox 3y ago
  Germany also has states, although they aren't as independent as US states. In an case the EU is much less unified than the US.
TrackerFF 3y ago
If Germany is anything like the Scandinavian countries, those banks will just be branches of a handful of different banks. We really don't have any microbanks that need to roll out their own tech for everything - most are just part of the larger banks, and get all the infrastructure provided for them.