Market share

The financial services industry constitutes the largest group of companies in the world in terms of earnings and equity market cap. However it is not the largest category in terms of revenue or number of employees. It is also a slow growing and extremely fragmented industry, with the largest company (Citigroup), only having a 3 % US market share.^[6]

In contrast, the largest home improvement store in the US, Home Depot, has a 30 % market share, and the largest coffee house Starbucks has a 32 % market share, etc. Despite this fragmentation, financial service companies as a group are by far the most profitable in the world, and if any grew to the same market share percentages as any other retail industry, the potential profit would be large.

2004

S&P 500 index market capitalization in 2004:^[7]

• Financial Services: 20.30%
• (Computer hardware & software: 15.30%) (as comparison to 1999)
• Healthcare: 13.40%
• Industrial Materials: 12.20%
• Hardware (computer hardware): 10.80%
• Consumer Goods: 9.70%
• Consumer Services: 8.80%
• Energy: 6.50%
• Software: 4.50%
• Business Services: 3.90%
• Media: 3.90%

 

1999

S&P 500 index (500 large American companies) market cap in 1999:^[8]

• Technology (hardware, software): 29.8%
• Financial: 13.1
• Consumer Staples: 11
• Consumer Cyclicals: 9.2
• Healthcare: 9
• Capital Goods: 8.4
• Communication Services: 8
• Energy  : 5.5
• Basic Materials: 3.00%
• Utilities: 2.3
• Transportation: 0.7