Singapore's "Big 4" banks, plus the newly merged Keppel TatLee Bank, have offices throughout the Asia-Pacific area, in London and North America as well and are also acquiring banks in Asia. Several factors have been particularly salient in explaining the timing and location of their expansion:...

The structure of European banking markets has substantially changed over the past decade, partially as a result of the creation of the Single Internal Market. The process of integration and accompanying deregulation has embodied an incentive for bank management to focus on improving efficiency,...