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The article presents an account of the expansion of the European banks in the Brazilian banking sector. Restriction was enforced on the entry of foreign financial institutions into Brazil during the 1970s and 1980s. The Brazilian government withhold the restriction and allowed some foreign banks in order to permit the acquisition of a few problematic banks and also to strengthen the national banking sector due to the banking crisis caused by a contagion from Mexican financial crisis in 1995. The process of banking mergers in the European financial system under the European Union (EU) has been one of main factors behind the expansion of some European banks in Brazil.

Cross-border activity in the EU is widely viewed as a necessary condition for the implementation of a single banking market and therefore as a positive factor for the enhancement of competition and cost performance in the region. In this paper, we analyse the relevance of this view by investigating whether cross-border activity really promotes competition and cost efficiency in EU banking markets. We also consider the potential role of a bank's mode of entry by comparing existing domestic banks that foreign banks take over (mergers and acquisitions) with new branches created by foreign banks, often through subsidiaries (greenfield operations). We consider the impact of cross-border banks on cost efficiency (measured by the stochastic frontier approach), profitability (assessed through return on assets) and competition (measured by the Lerner index). We find that greenfield banks enhance cost efficiency and competition, while mergers and acquisitions hamper competition and cost efficiency. Therefore, our results suggest that EU authorities should promote only greenfield banks rather than all cross-border entries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Heterogenous banking supervision and regulation is often considered as the most important impediment for Pan-European Bank mergers. In this paper we identify other more fundamental reasons for a limited degree of cross-country integration in retail banking. We argue that the distribution of regional liquidity shocks may pose a natural limit to the extent of cross-border bank mergers. The paper derives the impact of different underlying stochastic structures on the optimal structure of cross regional bank mergers. Imposing a symmetry restriction on the underlying stochastic structure of liquidity shocks we find that benefits from diversification and the costs of contagion may be optimally traded off if banks from some but not from all regions merge. Under an additional monotonicity assumption full integration is only desirable if the number of regions with diverse risks is sufficiently large. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose This paper aims to empirically analyze the success of European bank mergers and acquisitions (M&As) by an analysis of the shareholder value implications of stock market reactions to announced and canceled M&As in the period from 1999 to 2015.Design/methodology/approach The analysis of a sample of 467 announced and 54 canceled European bank M&As is conducted using event study methodology. The determinants of the shareholder value creations in M&A are observed in cross-sectional regressions. The likelihood of M&As being canceled is estimated in logit regressions.Findings The paper finds that European bank M&As have not been successful in terms of shareholder value creation for acquiring banks, whereas targets experienced significant value gains. Abnormal returns for bidders and targets exhibit the same characteristics upon the announcement of M&As that are canceled at a later date, whereas the results for transaction cancelations deviate. Targets experience negative abnormal returns at a larger size than upon the transaction announcement. The findings for bidders are striking, as they destroy shareholder value upon the transaction cancelation, also, consequently they suffer twice. In particular, banks with higher profitability, higher efficiency and lower liquidity experience negative abnormal returns around the announcement dates. Negative abnormal returns prior to the transaction announcement and provision for loan losses increase significantly the likelihood of M&A cancelation.Originality/value This paper contributes to the literature expanding existing analyses to the shareholder value implications of canceled European bank M&As in a 17-year long time period. The findings reveal the destructive characteristics of canceled bank M&As and provide innovative insights into European capital market reaction to canceled M&As. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the impact of European bank mergers on changes in key safety and soundness measures of both acquirers and targets. We find that acquirers in cross-border deals tend to perform better when their home country prudential supervisors and deposit insurance funding systems are stricter than that of the target. For target banks, we find that stronger supervision and tougher deposit insurance funding regimes result in positive post merger changes in liquidity and performance. Overall, while bank mergers have undermined bank safety and soundness in some cases, our evidence indicates that strong regulation and supervision can partly ameliorate this. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of the current research is to study bank mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and to see whether they have implications on the productivity of the target banks, and also for the bidder bank. The aim of this paper is to see if, during 2002-2008 period, three banks from the European banking system, Banca Comerciala Romana from Romania, Slovenská sporitel'ňa from Slovakia and Erste Bank Group from Austria improved their productivity due to the fact that all of them were involved in a process of cross-border merger or acquisitions, even if the bank is the purchaser or the target. To reach our goal, we used DEA method, by estimating the productivity achieved by these three banks during the period pre-M&A, post M&A, but we also estimated the productivity for entire period of seven years. Using Malquist DEA method, we show that, on average, the merger or acquisition in which a bank was involved improved the Total Factor Productivity of all analyzed banks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Acquisitions and mergers are the growth and expansion strategies that are commonly used by the companies in all over the world because of several reasons such as increasing the profit, sales and market share, entering into new markets, operating with economics of scale, coping with managerial problems and so on. This article underlines the characteristics of mergers and acquisitions (M&A), the different types of M&A, the challenges and opportunities for the banking system in Central and Eastern Europe and we analyze the implications of the recently observed sharp expansion of foreign banks in the Central and Eastern European Countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines whether the stock markets price changes in operating efficiency as a result of bank mergers and if the premiums paid by the acquiring banks also reflect these changes. The sample covers mergers and acquisitions consummated in the US and Europe during the period of 1997 to 2003. Changes in cost and profit efficiency are calculated using the non-parametric Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) method 1 year prior and 3 years following the merger announcement. Evidence suggests a significant relation between the announcement-period abnormal returns and the post-merger profit efficiency changes. Results also indicate that bank managers are likely to pay a higher premium for those M&A transactions that can bring about greater efficiency gains, particularly on the profit side. Further, although acquirer shareholders in the US and Europe appear to react differently to the announcement of a bank merger, our results for target shareholders suggest that regional differences might be less important than the degree of capital market development in explaining wealth effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims at assessing the extent to which M&As in European banking sector over the period 1996-2003 result in two simultaneous catching up and convergence processes of consolidating groups. First, do the M&As significantly contribute to the consolidating banks to catch-up with the productivity benchmark? Second, in terms of synergies or complementarities among business lines, is there a convergence process of output mixes among the individual banks of the M&A operations? Our sample is made up of 42 M&A transactions and 587 non-merging banks in Europe. The main conclusion is that M&A operations in the European banking industry appear to be essentially motivated by an objective of improving complementarities among lines of work from each component of M&As rather than increasing productivity at the merged banks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the last fifteen years, the European banking industry has experienced considerable consolidation through mergers and acquisitions against the background of the introduction of the single currency and reductions in cross-border barriers. This paper investigates whether these changes impacted on announcement period gains of the banks acquiring targets by examining the pre-euro, run-up to the euro and post euro eras. Evidence suggests bidders' gains have fallen with the development of economic and monetary union. It also reveals significant differences in the gains from acquisitions within and outside the eurozone. These results are consistent with increased competition among bidders and increased integration of the market in the eurozone area in the post-euro era. However, differing results relating to focused and diversifying bids suggest that the level of market integration is sector dependent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper the author argues that cross-border, intra-European bank mergers are likely to generate benefits similar to those enjoyed in the United States when interstate banking restrictions were removed. These benefits include greater banking efficiency, higher economic and employment growth, more entrepreneurial activity, and reduced economic volatility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Announcement period abnormal returns for target banks are generally considered low compared to non-bank mergers. In this paper the factors that influence those returns in European bank mergers is examined. Sixty-seven deals from the EU, Norway and Switzerland are studied for which both targets and acquirers were listed companies (some of these being cross-border mergers and acquisitions), and find that European cross-border acquisitions tend to generate higher returns than national acquisitions. Cash deals and deals that are settled by a mix of cash, equity and loan notes create higher returns than equity transactions. It was also found that the target profitability and the relative asset growth rate have significant positive relation with the stock return. In addition, the significance of loan quality, the relative cost to income ratio and the ratio of loans to deposits, all point to the importance of efficiency in the European financial services industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The Basel III Accord was the centrepiece of the international regulatory response to the global financial crisis, setting new capital requirements for internationally active banks. This paper explains the divergent preferences on Basel III of national regulators in three countries that approximate what are frequently presented as distinct varieties of capitalism in Europe — Germany, the United Kingdom and France. It is argued that national regulators setting post crisis capital requirements had to reconcile three inter-related and potentially conflicting objectives: banking sector stability, the competitiveness of national banks and short to medium term economic growth. The different national preferences on Basel III reflected how different national regulators defined and pursued these objectives, which in turn reflected the structure of national banking systems — specifically, systemic patterns of bank capital and bank-industry ties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to test the influence of the paid premium on the value that bank M&A generate. We performed an event study on abnormal returns and a regression analysis in a sample comprised of mergers and acquisitions undertaken by European banks from 1995 to 2004. The results obtained show a negative influence of the premium on abnormal returns obtained by the stockholders for both the purchaser as well as the organisation resulting from the operation. Moreover, the payment with shares of stock in conjunction with a high premium could be a sign of high overvaluation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates the nexus of competition and stability in European banking. It analyzes the European legal framework for competition policy in banking and several cases that pertain to anti-cartel policy, merger policy, and state-aid control. It discusses whether and how competition policy should be amended in order to preserve the stability of the banking system during crises. The article argues for increased cooperation between prudential regulators and competition authorities, as well as an enhanced framework for bank regulation, supervision, and resolution that could mitigate the need to change competition policy in crisis times. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyses the implications of the recently observed sharp expansion of foreign banks in the Central and Eastern European Countries (CEECs) as measured by equity ownership. We show that the mode of foreign entry has a pivotal impact on the post-entry performance of banks in CEECs. Foreign greenfield banks are characterized by superior cost efficiency, compared with domestic and foreign-acquired banks. The efficiency of foreign-acquired banks deteriorates in the initial year of acquisition, but improves thereafter. Banks acquired by foreigners have less market power relative to domestic and foreign greenfield banks. Overall, the CEEC banking sectors have benefited from the increased foreign bank participation, both in terms of higher efficiency and more competition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The banking industry has one of the most active markets for mergers and acquisitions. However, little is known about the type of operational strategies adopted by banking firms in the years following a deal. For a sample of bidding banks in the USA and Europe, this study compares the design and performance implications of different post-merger strategies in both geographical regions. Using accounting data, we show that European banks pursue a cost-cutting strategy by increasing efficiency levels vis-à-vis non-merging banks and by cutting back on both labour costs and lending activities. US banks, on the other hand, raise both interest and non-interest income in the post-merger period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With very few exceptions the accepted viewpoint established by (predominantly) US research is that bank operating performance is not improved after merger. In this article we concentrate on European banks and investigate post-merger operating performance for 35 publicly listed bank mergers that were completed between 1992 and 1997. We find that industry-adjusted mean cash flow return did not significantly change after merger but stayed positive. We also find that the merger led to a significant decrease in profitability and capitalisation. Our key finding, in contrast to the US evidence, is that cost-efficiency ratios improved, although the improvement was not large enough to offset the profitability decrease. We also find that low profitability levels, conservative credit policies and good cost-efficiency status before merger are the main determinants of industry-adjusted cash flow returns and provide the source for improving these returns after merger. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article provides the first analysis of value gains to acquirers in the European bank M&A wave of 1996-2004. Using a sample of 75 publicly traded banks from 19 European countries, we document positive and statistically significant abnormal returns for the aggregate acquisition sample. Partitioning the sample with respect to product-market and geographic diversification indicates strong statistical evidence that all types of domestic deals as well as bank-to-bank cross-border deals create shareholder value. Gains to cross-border diversifying deals are insignificant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the stock market valuation in terms of expected gains of mergers and acquisitions (M&As) amongst banks that were announced from 1991 to 2001 in 13 European markets. M&As are classified according to activity, geographic specialization or diversification. A bivariate GARCH model is used to estimate abnormal returns taking beta conditional variability into account. The results document that there is, on average, a positive and significant increase in value for the group of targets' banks. Moreover, it is found that on average there is a positive and significant market reaction for the two types of transactions: cross-product diversification and geographic specialization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study 98 large M&As of European bidding banks from 1985 to 2000 in order to investigate drivers of excess returns to the shareholders of the targets, the bidders, and to the combined entity of the bidder and the target. Our findings show that many of 13 drivers identified mostly from prior, US-focused research have significant explanatory power, indicating that the stock market reaction to M&A announcements of European bidding banks can be at least partly forecast. Our results are largely consistent with the US-experience and confirm the preference of stock markets for focused transactions and against diversification. Moreover, we find that less active bidders create more value than more active/experienced bidders. This stands in contrast to some US research and may indicate that managers of frequent European bidding banks may be motivated by other objectives than creating shareholder value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Assesses the effects of bank mergers in Europe. Analysis on the economics of banking regulation; Discussion on the public policy issues raised by bank mergers; Conclusions.