We offer a new explanation for why academic studies typically fail to find value creation in bank mergers. Our conjectures are predicated on the idea that, until recently, large bank acquisitions were a new phenomenon, with no best practices history to inform bank managers or market investors....

There has traditionally been a symbiotic link between new business ventures and new banking ventures. This article finds that the traditional link between small businesses and small banks - the small business loan - has weakened in recent years. While new banks have intensified their reliance on...