Chart 2a. The title is "Net Interest Margins for Megabanks".

Median NIMs and Median Risk-Adjusted NIMs followed similar patterns between 1990 and 2003, where values rose sharply in the early 1990s and then dropped lightly toward the late 1990s. Overall, values increased over time. Median NIMs, valued at 3.47% in 1990, rose to a peak value of 4.35% in 1994 before starting a steady decline to 3.60% in 2000. By 2003, the value had risen to 3.84%. Median Risk-Adjusted NIMs rose sharply from 2.41% in 1990 to a peak value of 3.85% in 1993. There, values remained steady for a couple of years before steadily declining to a value of 3.19% in 2000. By 2003 the value had decreased only slightly to 3.11%.