We empirically investigate whether and how the ex-ante M&A activity of banks relate to their much debated bailouts and credit ratings during the 2008 financial crisis. Our M&A sample comprises of 1603 transactions performed by 41 large sized European banks over the period 1990-2006. We find that...

We analyze whether and how bank deregulation relates to the M&A centric consolidation of U.S. banking industry. Using difference-in-difference approach on M&A activity of banks over a time span of 1990-2009, we find a positive and statistically significant effect of deregulation on bank...