Evidence is reviewed suggesting that: (a) in market economies financial systems develop and attain maturity during the early stages of industrialization; (b) frictions caused by asymmetric information and the incompleteness of contracts are important in credit markets, and intermediaries play an...

We estimate the impact of bank merger announcements on borrowers' stock prices for publicly traded Norwegian firms. In addition, we analyze how bank mergers influence borrower relationship termination behavior and relate the propensity to terminate to borrower abnormal returns. We obtain four...

This paper uses a unique database that includes deal and bank balance sheet information for 220 cross-border acquisitions between 1994 and 2003 to analyze the characteristics and performance effects of international takeovers on target banks. A discrete choice estimation shows that banks are...