The European banking sector consolidated at a rapid pace throughout the 1990s. It was pushed along by several concurrent factors: the deregulation of banking activities, the further integration of the European financial market, financial globalization, technological and financial innovations, the imperative of value creation, and the introduction of the euro. Far from slowing down, this consolidation process is expected to accelerate over the coming years.

This book examines the performance of mergers and acquisitions (M& As) in the banking industry in Europe and introduces a new conceptual approach for assessing the phenomenon. The results show that the economic and financial performance of a banking M& A depends on its underlying strategy. This strategy is based on two factors: a bank's initial activities and its geographical reach. The book demonstrates that achieving the optimal combination of these two factors is critical to the success or failure of an M&A.