The McKinsey Quarterly

close Visitor Edition

McKinsey Quarterly is the business journal of McKinsey & Company.

Register to read this article

  • Recommendations (6)
  • Text Size
  • Print
  • Download PDF
  • Link to This

The new value at stake in regulation

Escalating value at risk from government regulation clearly has a place on the agendas of most CEOs.

regulation value at stake article, new regulation cost, Strategy

In This Article

The expanding role of goverments in the marketplace has become a hot topic in many executive suites around the world. But how much value is actually at stake from state intervention in the wake of the financial crisis of 2008? The answer, according to our analysis, is close to $800 billion a year of earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) worldwide—on top of around $2.8 trillion on the table before the crisis.

Regulation’s impact varies by industry: half of the new value at stake is in banking and insurance, 15 percent in the automotive industry, and the remaining 35 percent scattered among other sectors. In banking and insurance, the crisis has added close to $400 billion to the industry EBITDA affected by government intervention and regulation, for a total of $970 billion (exhibit). This means that two-thirds of the sector’s profits are now at stake.

Free Membership

As a free member you can also:

  • Read hundreds of free articles
  • Receive e-mail newsletters and alerts
  • Search our archive

Simply fill in this form

View our privacy policy.
We will not share your e-mail. See details.

* Required

New In:
Embed E-mail