We model the impact of bank mergers on loan competition, reserve holdings and aggregate liquidity. A merger creates an … operations by the central bank. …

We model the impact of bank mergers on loan competition, banks' reserve holdings and aggregate liquidity. Banks compete … in liquidity risk and expected liquidity needs for each bank and for the banking system. Large mergers tend to increase … expected aggregate liquidity needs, and thus the liquidity provision by the central bank. Comparative statics suggest that a …

-oriented regime for merger control increases banks’ stock prices, whereas it decreases those of non-financial firms. Moreover, bank … merger targets become more profitable and larger. A major determinant of the positive bank returns, after controlling inter … alia for the general quality of institutions and individual bank characteristics, is the opaqueness that characterizes the …