Banking in the First Quarter of the Twenty-First Century in Historical Perspective

This final chapter of the fourth edition of the Oxford Handbook of Banking provides a long-term analysis of the 2000–2024 era that changed banking to such an extent that it would be unrecognizable beforehand. Three relatively exogenous sets of factors—comprising two types of technological advances and extensive banking deregulations implemented prior to the era—combined to largely transform banking practice, policy, and research. We discuss such issues and place them into the historical context of eras of the twentieth century, 1901–1933, 1934–1979, and 1980–1999, displaying similar patterns in which relatively exogenous factors largely endogenously altered the banking industry and led to new policy directions and research agendas. Outcomes in each era also appear to help set up the transformations that take place in the following era. We also look ahead to the remainder of the twenty-first century to project what might occur. We ask others to join in a more widespread investigation of a larger set of topics, periods, and geographies than space constraints allow here. This may allow for a more holistic view of the evolution of banking.