Around 40 per cent of banks' revenues in the United States come from fees, i.e. from selling services rather than extending loans or financing projects. These include commissions from trading currencies and securities, issuing credit cards, managing mutual funds and providing custody and investment banking services among others. Arab banks continue to derive most of their revenue from taking deposits and extending credit. There has been a large drop in branch utilisation in the United States from 70 per cent of total banking services in the 1980s to 40 per cent today. In the meantime, ATMs have seen their share rising to 30 per cent, telephone banking to 28 per cent and Internet banking to two per cent.
Customers prefer the conveniences of 'direct delivery channels' instead of going to the branch.
In the Arab region, on average, more than 90 per cent of customers use branches. The banking ratio in Arab countries measured by the number of residents per branch averaged 8,800 last year compared to 4,000 in the developed countries. The banking sector's concentration ratios, as measured by the market share of the top five banks in the region are relatively high. Egypt's four state banks have 50 per cent of total assets and control most of the retail network, while in Jordan, the top five banks control 80 per cent of the assets. Domestic Arab banks remain quite small in comparison to their European and US peers.