Banking in the United States

Banking in the United States has occurred under a series of laws passed by the federal and state governments of the United States of America.

The US banking sector's short-term liabilities as of October 11, 2008 are 15% of the GDP of the United States or 43% of its national debt, and the average bank leverage ratio (assets divided by net worth) is 12 to 1.

Bank regulation in the United States is highly fragmented compared to other G10 countries where most countries have only one bank regulator. In the U.S., banking is regulated at both the federal and state level. Depending on a banking organization's charter-type and organizational structure, it may be subject to numerous federal and state banking regulators. Unlike Japan and the United Kingdom, where regulatory authority over the banking, securities and insurance industries is combined into one single financial services agency, the U.S. maintains separate securities, commodities, and insurance regulatory agencies (which are separate from the bank regulatory agencies) at the federal and state level as well