This article examines the primary motivations for the massive wave of bank mergers in the U.S. during the 1990s by analyzing the prices paid for target banks. The authors find that these prices reflect both general market and firm-specific characteristics. For example, the lifting of regulatory...

Can computer-based models, using publicly available information, be used as off-site early warning systems (EWS) to identify banks that will become inadequately capitalized in the near future? The EWS models analyzed in this article are able to detect the early onset of financial distress one...