Banking and commerce: a liquidity approach

by Joseph G. Haubrich and João A. C. Santos

Working Papers No 78
October 1999

This paper looks at the advantages and disadvantages of mixing banking and commerce, using the "liquidity" approach to financial intermediation. Bringing a non-financial firm into a banking conglomerate may be advantageous because it may make it easier for the bank to dispose of assets seized in a loan default. The internal market formed inside the banking and commerce conglomerate increases the liquidity of such assets and improves the bank's ability to perform financial intermediation. More generally, owning a non-financial firm may act either as a substitute or a complement to commercial lending. In some cases, a bank will voluntarily refrain from making loans, choosing to become a non-bank bank in an unregulated environment.