Focussing on Europe, this paper starts with reviewing the main determinants of foreign direct investment (FDI); a key observation is that economic policies and non-policy factors contribute equally to the direction of FDI flows. The paper then examines the growth-FDI nexus: while a strong...

Individual banks differ substantially in their foreign operations. This paper introduces heterogeneous banks into a general equilibrium framework of banking across borders to explain the documented variation. While the model matches existing micro and macro evidence, novel and unexplored...

This paper investigates the determinants of the pattern of banks' foreign investment. We extended previous analyses in three directions. First, we use a unique database that includes information on 260 large banks from OECD countries and all their foreign branches and subsidiaries in each one of...

Using a new, comprehensive database on bank ownership, identifying also the home country of foreign banks, for 137 countries over the period 1995-2009, this paper provides an overview of foreign bank activity and its impact of financial development and stability. We document substantial...

This paper provides a critical assessment of the costs and benefits of foreign bank ownership. It reviews the extensive literature on the impact of foreign banks and uses a unique database on bank ownership, covering 129 countries, to (re-)examine a number of the issues discussed. It documents...

In the past fifteen years, cross-border mergers and acquisitions have had an ever increasing role in the process of bank internationalization. Although a consensus view has developed on the determinants of a bank’s decision to expand abroad and on the determinants of the patterns of expansion,...

This paper investigates what factors might help explain the internationalization strategy of banks and insurance companies, by comparing the determinants of cross-border M&As in the two sectors in a unified framework. The empirical analysis shows that between 1990 and 2003 the...

TThis paper investigates which factors determine a bank's decision to expand its activities abroad and what determines its choice of the countries to invest in. The empirical analysis is conducted using firm-level data on foreign subsidiaries for a representative sample of nearly 2,500 OECD...

When do foreign banks have an advantage operating abroad and when not? Studying the performance of foreign banks in a large number of countries between 1999 and 2006, we find that this crucially depends on a number of factors. Specifically, foreign banks tend to perform better compared to...

In recent decades, the impact of South African foreign direct investment in Africa has been captured by research and policy. This paper investigates linkages and spillover effects of South African foreign direct investment in Botswana and Kenya. The study uses primary data to investigate...