Inside the competition for capital at some of the world's biggest banks

As the U.S. economy becomes more consolidated, the strategic decisions of senior leaders at leading companies carry ever-greater weight. A lot is riding on how these companies are run, yet in most cases, their day-to-day decision-making remains obscure. But the banking industry is an exception. As Barbara Su, assistant professor of accounting at Costello College of Business at George Mason University, notes, "Because the banking industry is heavily regulated, it allows us to have access to subsidiary banks' financial information. We can observe how much money parent companies take from each subsidiary, as well as the internal capital allocation between subsidiaries by headquarters."