As noted by the author in the previous editions, this book examines commercial banking in the framework of the U.S. financial services industry. This industry is currently in a state of dynamic change that is rapidly transforming the role of commercial banks and the entire financial system. The 1990s are a period of dramatic transition for the commercial banking industry, one in which the nature of the banking industry is changing more rapidly than at any other time in its history. The combined forces of deregulation, electronic data processing, and telecommunications are altering both the nature of commercial banks and the competitive environment within which they operate. These forces have broken down the traditional barriers that both restricted the activities in which banks could engage and protected their position within the prescribed areas of activity. As a result, banks can now offer a wide array of services and pay competitive rates of interest; at the same time, they now compete directly with a variety of other financial and nonfinancial institutions for savings and loan customers.