This paper examines the e®ects of bank mergers on loan pricing. Using a sample of U.S. commercial and industrial loans, I ¯nd that banks reduce loan interest rates after they acquire target banks with small market shares, suggesting that the e±ciency gains e®ect dominates the market power...

This paper studies the relationship between universal banking and firm performance. With 40 developing and developed countries, I find that the overall effect of universal banking on firm growth is negative. This suggests that the negative effect of conflicts of interest dominates the positive...