Efficient Banking under Interstate Branching

Whether they will depends on their assessment of the profitability of such a delivery system for their services and on their preferences regarding risk and return. The authors investigate the probable effect of interstate branching on banks' risk-return tradeoff, accounting for the endogeneity of deposit volatility. If interstate branching improves the risk-return tradeoff banks face, banks that branch across state lines may choose a higher level of risk in return for higher profits. The authors find distinct efficiency gains due to geographic diversity.