Essay On Financial Conglomerates

Horizontal refers to the idea of one firm joining with another at the same stage of the same production process. It also allows for greater market share; achieves economies of scale; and an opportunity to enter a different market segment. An example of this would be Ford’s takeover of Volvo - both being car manufacturers.

Pools (or cartels) are where multiple companies consolidate with each other and behave as one company. They were another kind of trust outlawed by the Sherman Anti-Trust Act and were different from holding companies in that there wasn’t necessarily one company that held the shares of the other ones.

Compare and contrast today’s structure versus historical structures. Why has consolidation occurred and who will experience benefits and losses – customers, the institutions, etc. Why have bank failures occurred? Are there any consequences of consolidation and failure in the industry?

The banking industry consists of almost sixty-five hundred banks that are insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). Out of these, there are eighty-one substantially large banks in the United States that are publically traded, which is where the market structure and industry information will be based. However, as with the rest of the country, these banks are very concentrated, with the largest banks accounting for over half of the market as well as accounting for the largest amounts of revenue.

There are various categories of banking; these include retail banking, directly dealing with small businesses and persons. Commercial and Corporate banking which offers services to medium and large businesses (Koch & MacDonald 2010). Private banking, deals with individuals, offering them one on one service. The last category is investment banking. These help clients to raise capital and often invest in financial markets. Most global banking institutions provide all these services combined. With all these institutions in existence within the same localities and offering similar services, there is a need to regulate the industry so as to protect the consumer and provide fair working environment for all banks (Du & Girma, 2011).

Financial management over time has become the most important aspect of business decisions in funding the enterprise. Thus, the term “financial services” became more popular in the United States partly as a result of the Gramm-Leach-Biley Act of the latter 1990s. This act has enabled all companies to operate in the U.S. financial services industry. Companies usually have two different approaches to this new type of business, insurance, and investment banking. Whether the firm keeps the original brands or adds the acquisition to its holding company

The Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 that defined the roles for commercial banks, investments banks and insurance firms was over ridden by the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (1999) which repealed the provisions that restricted affiliations in financial institutions. Hence one solution is to overcome the incentive problem and the conflict of interests that arise when financial institutions simultaneously undertake financial activities of varied nature.

Most corporate financing decisions in practice reduce to a choice between debt and equity. The finance manager wishing to fund a new project, but reluctant to cut dividends or to make a rights issue, which leads to the decision of borrowing options. The issue with regards to shareholder objectives being met by the management in making financing decisions has come to become a major issue of recent times. This relates to understanding the concept of the agency problem. It deals with the separation of ownership and control of an organisation within a financial context. The financial manager can raise long-term funds internally, from the company’s cash flow, or externally, via the capital market, the market for funds

Horizontal mergers take place between companies in the same industry. These companies are rivals who sell the same goods or services. When a merger takes place, a rival is eliminated and potential for gains become higher. A vertical merger is one in which a firm or company combines with a supplier or distributor. For example, if a car making firm is receiving chassis from two suppliers and decides to acquire them, it is a vertical merger. On the other hand conglomerate mergers are those between firms that

Among the five forces of competition; existing competitive rivalry between suppliers, threat of new market entrants, bargaining power of buyers, power of suppliers and threat of substitute products, the most significant for UnitedHealth Group are threats for substitute products and rivalry among competing firms. Given the fact that there are numerous healthcare insurance firms in the world; there are also a number of substitutes for the corporation products and services. In recent years, the banking industry has become involved in insurance activities. They provide some medical plans, which act as substitutes to the UnitedHealth Group products. Banc assurance, otherwise known as the bank insurance model, is a very common phenomenon in this global world. Banc assurance is an arrangement in which a bank and an insurance company form a partnership so that the insurance company can sell its products to the bank’s client base. This type of partnership can be profitable for both, the bank and the insurance company. Banks can earn additional revenue by selling the insurance products and insurance companies are

The investment banks, and subsequent stock brokerage firms, was regulated by the Security and Exchange Commission. The banking entities, in this portion of the financial sector, were used to dealing in high risk business that were structured on the business’ equity and debt capital, instead of the commercial banks’ deposits of customers. The activities in this sector of the financial system were underwriting stocks and bonds, insurance markets, the investments in subprime debt markets and mortgages.

Large corporations such as Wal-Mart or Home Depot often come under criticism for putting mom-and-pop shops out of business. While this may be a valid criticism, the consumers neglect to realize that they play the biggest part in shutting these businesses down. Consumers across the country are always looking for the best deals or the lowest prices, and in most cases the larger corporations are where products can be found at the lowest price. Many small business owners and the populations of small towns dislike large corporations moving into the area because they believe it negatively effects the local

Functional structures are proved to operate well in stable environments where business strategies are less inclined to changes or dynamism, the amount of bureaucracy makes it tough for organizations to respond to changes in the market quickly.

These institutions are mainly represented by banking institutions (groups or individual banks) (ca. 91%) and the remaining part by specialized credit institutions (financial intermediaries – ex art 107) active mainly in the leasing, consumer credit and factoring business. All credit institutions can be broken down in the following 5 clusters4: • Top – which include

List of abbreviations List of tables Acknowledgements Abstract 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Introduction Problem statement Objectives and hypothesis of the study Literature review Structure and performance of the financial sector in