American Banking Through Crises and Consolidation: How Four Banks Bought 50% of America's Biggest Business

Six weeks in the autumn of 2008 dramatically changed the direction and structure of American banking by taking size and consolidation to a new level that few fully yet understand. Like in all financial crises an inevitable result is the big banks get bigger and the number of banks fewer. In this case, four commercial banks – JPMorgan, Bank of America, Citigroup and Wells Fargo – were left with 50 percent of all commercial bank assets with smallest of the four having more assets than the nex...