The banking phenomenon of North Carolina: from origins to the present

Although not one of the largest states and ranking just ninth in the USA in terms of population, North Carolina has been a major banking hub for several decades, second only to New York. This article focuses on the early foundations of this success and the later evolution of the North Carolina banking cluster, tracing its development through statistics from the late 1970s to the present. It is shown that an important advantage in the 19th century was the lifting of the ban on bank branching, which was not typical in the USA at that time. As a result, by the early 1980s, when the gradual liberalization of the national banking system and the abolition of territorial restrictions began, quite large banking corporations already existed in North Carolina, ready for further business expansion and operations in other parts of the country. Following a long series of mergers and acquisitions in the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s, the state's leading bank holding companies (Bank of America Corporation and Wachovia Corporation) became among the largest and most powerful financial groups in the USA. However, it soon became clear that there was another side to this extremely rapid growth: due to its deep involvement in subprime mortgages, Wachovia collapsed during the 2008 crisis. Nevertheless, Bank of America and several other large companies overcame the crisis, ensuring North Carolina maintained a strong position in the industry. To date, North Carolina's phenomenal rise remains the most significant spatial change in the US banking system since its liberalization began more than 40 years ago.

North Carolina, Charlotte, banks, mergers, competition