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

In response to fundamental changes in regulation and technology, the financial industry is undergoing an unprecedented wave of consolidation. A growing body of empirical literature measures the efficiency gains from mergers and acquisitions; however there is little sense of how the results might depend on the country, industry and time period analyzed. 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 20 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, but there is little evidence that mergers yield economies of scope or gains in managerial efficiency. Crown Copyright (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.