Question

How have banking and finance affected the economy of North Carolina? Check all that apply.

Answer 1

Answer:

Bank closures have left many without options for securing loans

.Since the 1990s, wages for banking and finance employees have doubled.

Employment opportunities in banking and finance have increased.

Explanation:

North Carolina has a rich history in the financial industry, with banks such as First Union, Wachovia and North Carolina National Bank serving as the forerunners for current leading firms Wells Fargo and Bank of America. The development of the state’s banking center can be traced to a number of advantages, some of which were structural in nature and some of which were the results of the actions of individual firms. Historically, North Carolina was the last of the original 13 states to charter a private bank, only doing so in 1804. A decade later, North Carolina became one of the few states to allow its banks to have multiple branches; as a result, North Carolina banks accumulated more capital than many of their peers. The success of the region’s textile and tobacco industries helped North Carolina’s banks grow their reserves before a Federal Reserve Board branch opened in Charlotte in 1927, helping establish that city as a regional banking center.

Throughout the 20th century, North Carolina biggest banks pursued an aggressive strategy of acquisitions and mergers. Competition between rivals such as First Union and North Carolina National Bank pushed both to expand at a rapid pace, especially after inter-state banking was legalized by the U.S. Supreme Court in the 1980s (1). The move toward bigger banks continued in the 2000s—First Union merged with Wachovia before Wells Fargo purchased Wachovia; North Carolina National Bank changed its name to NationsBank and eventually merged with BankAmerica to become Bank of America. Those and other organizations continue to thrive—Wells Fargo and Bank of America were state’s fourth and fifth largest private employers in 2013 (2), employing more than 46,200 people between the two of them (B&F T1a). In total, there are more than 100,000 workers in North Carolina’s banks and finance value chain.