Multinational banks serve essentially the same global marketplace but often
differ substantially from bank to bank, in part because they are headquartered
in different nations and are subject to different sets of laws and regulations.
In order to get some idea as to how significant this "country effect"
can be, compare the profitability, growth, and risk exposure of the following
banks using information drawn from their individual Web sites and from S&P's
Market Insight database at mhhe.com/edumarketinsight.
The banks are: Barclays PLC (BCS) and HSBC Holdings (HSBC) from the United
Kingdom; Deutsche Bank (DB) and Dresdner Bank AG (DXBC) from Germany; and
Bank of America (BAC) and Bank One (ONE) from the United States. Do these
banking firms grouped by country of origin-appear to be more similar to each
other in performance and financial condition than they do to banks headquartered
in other nations? Do you see any evidence at all for a "country effect"?
