Consolidation and efficiency in the financial sector: a review of the international evidence

Dean Amel, Colleen Barnes, Fabio Panetta () and Carmelo Salleo
Additional contact information
Dean Amel: Federal Reserve Board, Washington DC
Colleen Barnes: Department of Finance, Ottawa, Canada
Fabio Panetta: Bank of Italy, Economic Research Department

No 464, Temi di discussione (Economic working papers) from Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area

Abstract: In response to fundamental changes in regulation and technology, the financial industry around the world is undergoing an unprecedented wave of consolidation. A growing body of empirical literature has attempted to measure the efficiency gains from M&As; however there is little sense of how the results might depend on the country, industry and time period analysed. In this paper we review critically works that cover the main sectors of the financial industry (commercial and investment banks, insurance and asset management companies) in the major industrialized countries over the last twenty years, searching for common patterns that transcend national and sectoral peculiarities. We find that consolidation in the financial sector is beneficial up to a relatively small size in order to reap economies of scale, but there is little evidence that mergers yield economies of scope or gains in managerial efficiency.

Keywords: mergers; efficiency; bank mergers (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: G21 G34 L1 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2002-12
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (12)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Consolidation and efficiency in the financial sector: A review of the international evidence (2004)
Working Paper: Consolidation and Efficiency in the Financial Sector: A Review of the International Evidence (2003)
Working Paper: Consolidation and efficiency in the financial sector: a review of the international evidence (2002)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bdi:wptemi:td_464_02

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