The recent rise of Southern banking: An examination of the Southeastern Regional Banking Compact and some resulting disparities among the banking industries of the leading Southern states

Between 1984 and 1986 the legislatures of several southern states enacted changes to their banking laws that enabled banking companies in Southern Region states to acquire and be acquired by banking companies in other Southern Region states, as long as these companies qualified as "Southern." The purpose of the compact was to allow some southern banking companies an opportunity to grow and gain financial strength before full interstate banking was permitted. This study shows that the compact was successful. In 1985 no southern banking companies were among the top ten banks in the country, but by 2005 four were. Furthermore, no major southern bank has been acquired by a U.S. banking company outside of the South, although several southern banking companies have bought banks in other regions. The southern economy and its banking industry have benefited, although the benefits have been unevenly spread among states.