Thesis advisor: Peter N. Ireland / The banking structure as it is known today in the United States largely originated in the 1930s after the onslaught of the Great Depression. The Federal Deposit Insurance Company developed deposit insurance to stabilize the industry and protect consumers. They laid down rules and regulations that shaped the banking and financial sector of the American economy into the early form of what patrons use today. Large banks were concentrated in financial centers, mostly New York, with some scattered in the west coast and other big cities. Most smaller towns had one or two state-chartered commercial banks with thrift institutions flourishing alongside. Personal and even business customers banked on a small, local scale. Sixty plus years later, the same industry structure is still in place, but its face has changed dramatically. The financial system of the United States in the 21st century is vastly different from the one that was commonly used only one generation ago. Geographic deregulation in the 1970s drastically changed the geography of the American banking industry. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2006. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Economics Honors Program.