Why can lighter regulation abroad make life hard for a bank expanding overseas?

1. Banks in other nations are often subject to fewer regulations than the bank arriving from abroad. 2. Regulation costs money, so a lighter rulebook means a lower cost base. 3. Local rivals can therefore undercut the incoming bank on the pricing of loans and services. 4. Some governments add to this by protecting their own banks against foreign competition. 5. Those protections can include high fees and limits on the deposits a foreign bank may accept. 6. The obstacle is competitive pricing rather than a ban, since foreign banks do continue to operate in such markets. _Source: OpenStax Introduction to Business (CC BY 4.0), Ch 15 "Understanding Money and Financial Institutions", section 15.5 International Banking_