M&A activity among major European banking groups

This work reports on the dynamics of the consolidation of major European banking groups during the period 2000–08, and provides an overview of expansion policies pursued by these groups in recent years. It also considers the impact of the sub-prime mortgage crisis. The top fifteen European banking groups by stock market capitalisation and total assets were included in the study. The panel comprised two Spanish, three French, three British, two Swiss, one Dutch, two Italian and two German banks. The time horizon for the study was 2002 to 2008. There were two reasons for this choice: firstly, the desire to consider for each banking group the most recent phase of expansion, subsequent to incorporation; secondly, the difficulty in retrieving data on growth strategies for the period before 2000. The source of data was the Zephyr database. Using data retrieved from Zephyr, a series of tables were created to shed light on the dynamics of external growth strategies pursued by the banking groups during the time horizon. Analysis of the tables highlighted the following aspects, at individual bank and aggregate level: - Time distribution of mergers - Deal value and time distribution - Deal type and frequency - The nature of the operation (domestic vs. cross-border; sector vs. cross-Sector).