Bank Consolidation and Merger Activity Following the Crisis
分析了2011至2014年间美国资产10亿美元以下银行被自愿并购的财务特征，发现这些并购有助于实现规模经济和提升效率，对研究银行整合的学者和监管者有用。
The number of U.S. banks has trended lower over the past 30 years, dropping from about 14,500 in the mid-1980s to 5,600 today. The number of banks declined for many reasons, such as failures during periods of crisis, consolidation spurred by the relax-ation of state branching and national interstate banking restrictions, and voluntary mergers between unaffiliated banks. Since the end of the 2007-09 recession, voluntary mergers have been the primary reason for the decline. Banks merge for a number of business-related reasons. Mergers allow banks to achieve economies of scale, enhance revenues and cut costs through operational efficiencies, and diversify by expanding busi-ness lines or geographic reach. Bank mergers can result in more efficient banks and a sounder banking system and thus benefit the economy, as long as banking markets remain competitive and communities ’ access to banking services and credit is not diminished. This article analyzes the financial characteristics of banks with as-sets of $1 billion or less that were acquired by an unaffiliated bank in a voluntary merger from 2011 to 2014. The analysis finds these mergers are consistent with the goals of greater economies of scale and improved Michal Kowalik is a financial economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. Troy Davig is senior vice president and director of research, Charles S. Morris is a vice president and economist, and Kristen Regehr is an assistant economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. This article is on the bank’s website at www.Kansas CityFed.org. 5 Page numbering will change upon this article’s inclusion in the coming issue of the Economic Review.