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Banking at the Margins: A Geography of Financial Exclusion in Los Angeles

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  • J S Pollard

    (Department of Geography, University of Exeter, Rennes Drive, Exeter EX4 4RJ, England)

Abstract

A changing regulatory environment, intensified competition, and the increasingly global and privatised nature of financial markets have taken a heavy toll on the US banking industry. In the 1980s over 1100 banks failed in the United States, more than in any decade since the 1930s. In this paper I examine the relationship between the eroding competitive position of the banking industry and an unfolding geography of financial exclusion affecting one low-income community in Los Angeles. First, I briefly outline the causes of banks' deteriorating competitive position, focusing on the mismatch between domestic financial regulation and the requirements of competition in retail markets through the 1980s. Second, I draw on research, using secondary sources and workplace-based interviews, to describe how some banks in Los Angeles are responding to these pressures by reorganising their production systems at an interregional, intermetropolitan, and intrametropolitan scale. Third, I concentrate on this intrametropolitan scale, documenting the rationalisation of branch networks and the rise of alternative financial institutions in part of South Central Los Angeles. To which communities are banks and their less regulated competitors to be held accountable? By way of conclusion, I argue that regulation needs to clarify this issue while also supporting the development of community-controlled financial institutions that can expand access to financial services in low-income neighbourhoods.

Suggested Citation

  • J S Pollard, 1996. "Banking at the Margins: A Geography of Financial Exclusion in Los Angeles," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 28(7), pages 1209-1232, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:envira:v:28:y:1996:i:7:p:1209-1232
    DOI: 10.1068/a281209
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. John H. Boyd & Mark Gertler, 1994. "The role of large banks in the recent U.S. banking crisis," Quarterly Review, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, vol. 18(Win), pages 2-21.
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    Cited by:

    1. Thomas Wainwright, 2009. "Laying the Foundations for a Crisis: Mapping the Historico‐Geographical Construction of Residential Mortgage Backed Securitization in the UK," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(2), pages 372-388, June.
    2. S. P. Chakravarty, 2006. "Regional variation in banking services and social exclusion," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 40(4), pages 415-428.
    3. Cristina Bernad & Lucio Fuentelsaz & Jaime Gómez, 2008. "Deregulation and its Long-Run Effects on the Availability of Banking Services in Low-Income Communities," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 40(7), pages 1681-1696, July.
    4. Thereza Balliester Reis, 2021. "What is financial inclusion? A critical review," Working Papers 246, Department of Economics, SOAS University of London, UK.
    5. Luisa Alamá & Emili Tortosa-Ausina, 2012. "Bank Branch Geographic Location Patterns in S pain: Some Implications for Financial Exclusion," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(3), pages 505-543, September.
    6. Gál, Zoltán & Burger, Csaba, 2013. "A vidék bankjai?. A magyar takarékszövetkezeti szektor hitelezési aktivitása [Local finance?. Lending activity by the Hungarian cooperative banking sector]," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(4), pages 373-401.
    7. Thereza Balliester Reis, 2022. "Socio‐economic determinants of financial inclusion: An evaluation with a microdata multidimensional index," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 34(3), pages 587-611, April.
    8. Paula Cruz-García & María del Carmen Dircio Palacios Macedo & Emili Tortosa-Ausina, 2020. "What drives financial exclusion in Mexican municipalities?," Working Papers 2020/19, Economics Department, Universitat Jaume I, Castellón (Spain).
    9. Paula Cruz‐García & María del Carmen Dircio Palacios Macedo & Emili Tortosa‐Ausina, 2021. "Financial inclusion and exclusion across Mexican municipalities," Regional Science Policy & Practice, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 13(5), pages 1496-1526, October.
    10. Michela M Zonta, 2012. "Applying for Home Mortgages in Immigrant Communities: The Case of Asian Applicants in Los Angeles," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 44(1), pages 89-110, January.
    11. A Leyshon & N Thrift, 1996. "Financial Exclusion and the Shifting Boundaries of the Financial System," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 28(7), pages 1150-1156, July.
    12. N Henry & J Pollard & P Sissons & J Ferreira & M Coombes, 2017. "Banking on exclusion: Data disclosure and geographies of UK personal lending markets," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 49(9), pages 2046-2064, September.
    13. Marcello Pagnini & Paola Rossi & Valerio Vacca & Johann Burgstaller, 2017. "Dynamics of Retail-Bank Branching in Austria," Economic Notes, Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA, vol. 46(3), pages 527-554, November.
    14. Nicolas Eber, 2000. "Sélection de clientèle et exclusion bancaire," Revue d'Économie Financière, Programme National Persée, vol. 58(3), pages 79-96.
    15. Rouse, Marybeth & Batiz-Lazo, Bernardo & Carbo Valverde, Santiago, 2020. "All about the state-Fifty years of innovative technology to deliver an inclusive financial sector," MPRA Paper 102159, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    16. B. Fernández-Olit & C. Ruza & M. Cuesta-González & M. Matilla-Garcia, 2019. "Banks and Financial Discrimination: What Can Be Learnt from the Spanish Experience?," Journal of Consumer Policy, Springer, vol. 42(2), pages 303-323, June.

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