The USA banking performance pre and post the crisis: how the bank size influenced the performance?

Abstract

This dissertation investigates how bank size influenced the U.S. banking performance in terms of profitability during the 2008 financial crisis. The crisis originated in the United States which led to worldwide economic instability. Categorising banks into two groups: small - large and considering two distinct time periods pre-crisis (2002-2006) and post-crisis (2007-2013), the dissertation conducts a cross-sectional analysis to explore bank behaviour patterns, highlighting similarities and differences. In addition, considering the main literature contributions, the dissertation predicts that small banks were more resilient than their counterparts. To address the research objective, the dissertation tests the mentioned hypothesis using the regression analysis (OLS, fixed and random effect models), which examined the relationships between size, liquidity, leverage and profitability.