Integration from retail banking to non-financial corporations in EMU

Abstract

This paper investigates the integration process within the European Economic and Monetary Union’s retail banking industry by analyzing deposit and lending rates to nonfinancial corporations. The investigation covers the 2003~2014 period, examining the normal period, the global crisis period, and the European debt crisis period. The paper classifies sampled countries into three groups on the basis of their Gross Domestic Product to investigate the relationship between economic size and degree of integration. We employ five different indicators to assess various dimensions of integration: beta convergence, sigma convergence, variance ratio, asymmetric dynamic conditional correlation, and dynamic co-integration. The results point toward a weak degree of integration, which was worsened by the twin crises. In addition, results indicate that more heterogeneity exists in the credit market than in the deposits market. Furthermore, short-term maturity products are observed to be more converged than longer-term maturity products. We also observe a positive relationship between economic size of sampled countries and the degree of retail banking integration.