In more than 3,844 mergers and acquisitions between 1989 and 1999, acquiring institutions purchased more than $3 trillion in assets. A number of reasons have been advanced for such a surge in acquisitions, including the need to consolidate to achieve cost savings and operational efficiencies, to...

We estimate the impact of bank merger announcements on borrowers' stock prices for publicly traded Norwegian firms. In addition, we analyze how bank mergers influence borrower relationship termination behavior and relate the propensity to terminate to borrower abnormal returns. We obtain four...

This paper uses a unique database that includes deal and bank balance sheet information for 220 cross-border acquisitions between 1994 and 2003 to analyze the characteristics and performance effects of international takeovers on target banks. A discrete choice estimation shows that banks are...

Paper for a conference sponsored by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York entitled Financial Innovation and Monetary Transmission

This article examines the primary motivations for the massive wave of bank mergers in the U.S. during the 1990s by analyzing the prices paid for target banks. The authors find that these prices reflect both general market and firm-specific characteristics. For example, the lifting of regulatory...

Ten years of deregulation, new technology, and increase competition have made the U.S. banking industry a less hospital place for many community banks. But the consensus view among ten community bankers recently surveyed by the Federal Reserve is that rapid industry change has provided...

How do we measure in the banking industry? This article provides an overview of the methodology currently used in competitive analysis and highlights an alternative techniques that could be used to complement this methodology. Given the ongoing process of consolidation in U.S. banking, assessing...

After stagnating for many years, the rate of new bank formation increased sharply in the second half of the 1990s. The financial press attributes this development to the high volume of bank mergers, which are said to have encouraged new entry by reducing service to some bank customers. It is...