Does Rocky Mountain Credit Union Competition still Affect Commercial Bank Interest Rates?

Authors

  • Thomas M. Fullerton Department of Economics & Finance, University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, USA
  • Robert J. Tokle Department of Economics, Idaho State University, Pocatello, USA
  • Bryce Jones Colorado Office of Economic Development & International Trade, Denver, USA
  • Steven L. Fullerton Border Region Modeling Project, University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, USA

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.58567/jre02010004

Keywords:

regional banking, interest rates, financial intermediary competition

Abstract

Historically, increased credit union competition in Idaho and Montana has caused commercial banks to offer higher deposit rates to savers and lower loan rates to borrowers.  Data are collected for the second quarter of 2018 to examine whether that pattern still holds true.  Unlike prior studies, empirical results indicate that credit union competition no longer exerts statistically reliable impacts on deposit rates or loan rates in this northern Rocky Mountain region of the United States.  Potential contributing factors include bank and thrift consolidation in recent years, the low interest rate environment prevailing during the late 2010s, and greater emphasis on non-interest forms of intermediary competition in the banking markets that comprise this regional economy.

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Published

2023-09-21

How to Cite

Thomas M. Fullerton, Tokle, R. J. ., Jones, B. ., & Steven L. Fullerton. (2023). Does Rocky Mountain Credit Union Competition still Affect Commercial Bank Interest Rates?. Journal of Regional Economics, 2(1), 42–52. https://doi.org/10.58567/jre02010004

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