Abstract Presence of foreign commercial banks, especially the Japanese Commercial banks, in the United States has become the subject of much attention. As of December 1990, assets owned by branches of foreign banks amount to $626.4 billion of which Japanese bank branches hold a 59.4 percent share and of the $154.5 billion worth of assets held by subsidiaries of foreign banks, the share held by Japanese-owned subsidiaries is 41.2 percent. This paper presents an economic analysis of the situation drawing upon the comparative behavior patterns with respect to direct foreign investment of Japanese and U.S. commercial banks.