This article provides an introduction to the special issue. We focus on four themes that are important for policymakers and researchers alike in view of the experiences of the global financial crisis of 2007–09 and the ensuing sovereign debt crisis in the euro area: the relevance of the...

We offer a new explanation for why academic studies typically fail to find value creation in bank mergers. Our conjectures are predicated on the idea that, until recently, large bank acquisitions were a new phenomenon, with no best practices history to inform bank managers or market investors....

We address the causes, consequences, and implications of the cross-border consolidation of financial institutions by reviewing several hundred studies, providing comparative international data, and estimating cross-border banking efficiency in France, Germany, Spain, the U.K., and the U.S....

Cross-border consolidation of financial institutions within Europe has been relatively limited, possibly reflecting efficiency barriers to operating across borders, including distance; differences in language, culture, currency, and regulatory/supervisory structures; and explicit or implicit rules...

The authors suggest that what is largely missing from the research literature related to the field of financial institutions is an analysis of the relationships between problem loans and cost efficiency. Recent empirical literature suggests at least three significant links between these two...

We test some predictions about the effects of technological progress on geographic expansion using data on banks in U.S. multibank holding companies over 1985-98. Specifically, we test whether over time (1) parental control over affiliate banks has increased and (2) the agency costs of distance...