Le point de vue théorique

[eng] The theoretical point of view . The banking theory has undergone a significant renewal over the last twenty years. The introduction of both the asymmetric information paradigm and the industrial economic tools has paved the way for the emergence of a true banking microeconomic theory, which has obviously focused on banking service pricing. . However, it is not easy to study this pricing, mainly because of economies of scale existing among major banking areas, such as : means of payment management, cash insurance, credits to economy and financial transformation. The traditional analysis of these activities (as well as justifications of banking regulations) relied on the existence of « technological » transaction costs and on the absence of developed financial markets. These assumptions are probably not adapted to the future banking world : are we going to see the development of diversified and specialised banks either on management of means of payment and liquidity, or on credit activity ? Some theoretical arguments lead us to think of a « reshuffling » of commercial banks as suppliers of multiple financial services, capable of satisfying the ever more complex needs of their customers. [fre] La théorie bancaire a connu un renouvellement important au cours des vingt dernières années. L'introduction du paradigme de l'information asymétrique et des outils de l'économie industrielle a en effet permis de faire émerger une véritable théorie micro-économique de la banque, qui s'est naturellement intéressée à la tarification des services bancaires. Pourtant, cette tarification n'est pas facile à étudier, notamment à cause des économies d'envergure qui existent entre les principales activités bancaires : gestion des moyens de paiement, assurance de liquidité, crédits à l'économie et transformation financière. Les analyses traditionnelles de ces activités (ainsi que les justifications de la réglementation bancaire) reposaient sur l'existence de coûts de transaction « technologiques » et sur l'absence de marchés financiers développés.