ABSTRACT
Most of the last decade's merger and acquisition activity in the financial sector involved banking organizations. Acquisitions of banking firms accounted for 60 per cent of all financial mergers and 70 per cent of the value of those mergers in the nations studied. In addition, most M&A transactions involved firms competing in the same segment of the financial services industry within the same country, while domestic mergers involving firms in different segments of the overall financial services industry were the second most common type of transaction. Cross-border mergers and acquisitions were less frequent, especially those involving firms in different industry segments. Still, all types of mergers and acquisitions, whether within one country or cross-border and whether within one industry segment or across segments, increased in frequency and value during the 1990s.
