Stefano Battilossi and Youssef Cassis, eds. European Banks and the American Challenge: Competition and Cooperation in International Banking under Bretton Woods.New York: Oxford University Press, 2002. x + 228 pp. ISBN 0-19-925027-8, $75.00

Stefano Battilossi and Youssef Cassis, eds. European Banks and the American Challenge: Competition and Cooperation in International Banking under Bretton Woods.New York: Oxford University Press, 2002. x + 228 pp. ISBN 0-19-925027-8, $75.00.

The publication of Jean-Jacques Servan-Schreiber's Le De´fiAme´ricain [The American Challenge] in 1967 touched the nationalistic nerve of European business and in particular the established practices of its banking sector. U.S. banks indeed mounted a serious challenge to the banking institutions of Europe. However, the competition was indirect, and asymmetric regulatory structures created complementary opportunities for internationalization. Consequently, the space in which U.S. banks operated was oblique and additive to the traditional terrain, much of which the Europeans continued to defend. The extra business came from two sources: new institutions (in particular the Eurocurrency and Eurobond markets), and related innovative financing instruments (particularly those that plugged the gap in medium-term corporate financing requirements).

European Banks and the American Challenge provides a series of perspectives on these developments. Stefano Battilossi's introduction sets out the twin foundations of the American challenge, the Eurocurrency and Eurobond markets. Youssef Cassis provides historical context in a chapter on European Banks in the 1950s. Richard Sylla covers the U.S. banks' strategy toward Europe. Catherine Schenk analyzes the competitive advantage of...