In economics, rent seekers compete through manipulating the environment rather than adding value. Rent seekers use methods such as encouraging regulation or government protection to extract wealth (rent) without improving productivity. Rent seeking is frequently associated with terms such as lobbying, bribing and corruption.

Banking has had its ups and downs over the centuries and society certainly has had good reasons to regulate it. In an age of cheaper information, where consumers and businesses should be able to make commercial decisions with lighter regulation, we are actually seeing more calls for regulation. While consumer banking stagnates, wholesale banking clients are changing, trading volumes are skyrocketing, margins per transaction are tumbling and banks are choosing differentiated strategies.

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