Performance, leverage and risk: An earnings analysis among U.S., U.K., and Japanese bank

Foreign-owned banks have aggressively entered into the U.S. markets by strategically seizing opportunities neglected by U.S. commercial banks such as trade financing. Opportunities seized by international banks have enabled those commercial banks' performance to make them more competitive and given them a competitive edge in the financial markets (Williams & Liao, 2008). A quantitative methodology was performed utilizing performance, leverage and risk measurements to determine earnings differences among U.S., U.K. and Japanese commercial banks. The population selected for this study included large insured commercial banks with assets greater than $300 million for the period of 2006 through 2009. Data utilized in the selection of the population was extracted from the following databases as well as the population's websites in order to generate valid and reliable results: The Federal Reserve Bank, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Security and Exchange Commission and Uniform Bank Performance Reports. The findings of this study illustrated how external and internal forces influenced earnings differences among U.S., U.K., and Japanese banks. The findings also illustrated the relationship among the variables selected for analyses. Future research is recommended for a more in-depth analysis of earnings and performance.