Consolidation, ownership structure and efficiency in the Italian banking system

Authors

  • Marcello Messori

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.13133/2037-3643/9908

Keywords:

Bank, Banking, Financial Service, Ownership Structure, Ownership

Abstract

This paper aims to analyze the effects of Italian banking consolidation during the nineties on the efficiency of the financial system, on competition in the market for banking and financial services, and on the reallocation of bank ownership. Whereas a review of the recent theoretical and empirical literature shows that none of these aspects has received an unequivocal solution, an analysis of the Italian case indicates that the banking consolidation processes were accompanied by gains in efficiencyand competitiveness. Consolidation did not, however, offset the increasing distortions in the ownership structure of a large part of the Italian banking groups.

 

JEL Codes: G32, G34, G21

References

ABI - ASSOCIAZIONE BANCARIA ITALIANA (various years), Rapporto sul sistema bancario italiano, Roma.

ABI - ASSOCIAZIONE BANCARIA ITALIANA (1998), Regional, superregional e global banks: strategie di ristrutturazione e riposizionamento competitivo verso leuro, European Banking Report, July.

AKHAVEIN, J.D., A.N. BERGER and D.B. HUMPHREY (1997), The effects of megamergers on efficiency and prices: evidence from a bank profit function, Review of Industrial Organization, vol. 12, pp. 95-139.

ANGELINI, P. and N. CETORELLI (2000), Bank competition and regulatory reform: the case of the Italian banking industry, WP Series, no. 99-32, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.

BAIN, J. (1956), Barriers to New Competition, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass.

BANCA DITALIA (various years), Relazione annuale, Roma.

BAUMOL, W.J., J.C. PANZAR and R.D. WILLIG (1982), Contestable Markets and the Theory of Industry Structure, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich Publishers, New York.

BERGER, A.N., R.S. DEMSETZ and P.E. STRAHAN (1999), The consolidation of the financial services industry: causes, consequences, and implications for the future, Journal of Banking and Finance, vol. 23, pp.135-94.

BERGER, A.N. and T.H. HANNAN (1989), The price-concentration relationship in banking, Review of Economics and Statistics, vol. 71, pp. 291-99.

BERGER, A.N. and T.H. HANNAN (1998), The efficiency cost of market power in the banking industry: a test of the quiet life and related hypothesis, Review of Economics and Statistics, vol. 80, pp. 454-65.

BERGER, A.N., D.B. HUMPHREY and L.B. PULLEY (1996), Do consumers pay for one-stop banking? Evidence from an alternative revenue functions, Journal of Banking and Finance, vol. 20, pp. 1601-21.

BERGER, A.N. and L.J. MESTER (1997), Inside the black box: what explains the differences in the efficiencies of financial institutions?, Journal of Banking and Finance, vol. 21, pp. 895-947.

BERGER, A.N., A. SAUNDERS, J.M. SCALISE and G.F. UDELL (1998), The effects of bank mergers and acquistions on small business lending, Journal of Financial Economics, vol. 50, pp. 187-229.

CALOMIRIS, C.W. and J. KARCESKI (1999), Is the bank merger wave of the 1990s efficient? Lessons from nine case studies, in S. Kaplan ed., Mergers and Productivity, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, pp. 93-177.

CER (2001), Rapporto banche, aprile, Roma.

CETORELLI, N. (1999), Competitive analysis in banking: appraisal of the methodologies, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago Economic Perspectives, pp. 2-15.

CHAMBERLAIN, S.L. (1998), The effect of bank ownership changes on subsidiarylevel earnings, in Y. Amihud and G. Miller eds, Bank Mergers and Acquisitions, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, pp. 137-72.

CIOCCA, P.L. (2000), La nuova finanza in Italia: una difficile metamorfosi (1980-2000), Boringhieri, Torino.

CONSOB (2001), Relazione per lanno 2000, Roma.

DANTHINE, J.-P., F. GIAVAZZI, X. VIVES and E.-L. VON THADDEN (1999), The Future of European Banking, CEPR, London.

DERMINE, J. (1999), The economics of bank mergers in the European Union: a review of the public policy issues, Working Paper, no. 99/35, Insead, Fontainbleau.

ECB - EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK (1999), Possible Effects of EMU on the EU Banking Systems in the Medium to Long Term, Frankfurt a. M.

ECB - EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK (2000a), EU Banks Income Structure, Frankfurt a.M.

ECB - EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK (2000b), Mergers and Acquisitions Involving the EU Banking Industry: Facts and Implications, Frankfurt a.M.

FOCARELLI, D., F. PANETTA and C. SALLEO (1999), Why do banks merge? Some empirical evidence from Italy, Temi di discussione, n. 361, Banca dItalia.

GILBERT, R.A. (1984), Bank market structure and competition: a survey, Journal of Money, Credit, and Banking, vol. 16, pp. 617-712.

GROS PIETRO, G.M., E. REVIGLIO and A. TORRISI (2001), Assetti proprietari e mercati finanziari europei, il Mulino, Bologna.

GROSSMAN, S. and O. HART (1986), The costs and benefits of ownership: a theory of vertical and lateral integration, Journal of Political Economy, vol. 94, pp. 691- 719.

GROUP OF TEN (2001), Report on Consolidation in the Financial Sector.

HANNAN, T.H. (1997), Market share inequality, the number of competitors, and the

HHI: an examination of bank pricing, Review of Industrial Organization, vol. 12, pp. 23-35.

HANNAN, T.H. and A.N. BERGER (1991), The rigidity of prices: evidence from the banking industry, American Economic Review, vol. 81, pp. 938-45.

HART, O. (1995) Firms, Contracts, and Financial Structure, Claredon Press, Oxford.

HART, O. and J. MOORE (1990), Property rights and the nature of the firm, Journal of Political Economy, vol. 98, pp. 1119-58.

HOLMSTROM, B. and J. TIROLE (1989), The theory of the firm, in R. Schmalensee and R. Willig eds, Handbooks of Industrial Organization, North-Holland, Amsterdam.

HUGHES, J.P. and L.J. MESTER (1998), Bank capitalization and cost: evidence of scale economies in risk management and signaling, Review of Economics and Statistics, vol. 80, pp. 314-25.

HUGHES, J.P., W. LANG, L.J. MESTER and C.G. MOON (1999), The dollars and sense of bank consolidation, Journal of Banking and Finance, vol. 23, pp. 291-324.

INZERILLO, U. and M. MESSORI (2000), Le privatizzazioni bancarie in Italia, in S. De Nardis, a cura di, Le privatizzazioni in Italia, il Mulino, Bologna, pp. 119-90.

JACKSON, W. III (1997), Market structure and the speed of price adjustments: evidence of non-monotonicity, Review of Industrial Organization, vol. 12, pp. 37- 57.

JENSEN, M.C. (1986), Agency costs of free cash flow, corporate finance, and takeovers, American Economic Review, Paper & Proceedings, vol. 76, pp. 323-29.

MESSORI, M. (1998), Banche, riassetti proprietari e privatizzazioni, Stato e mercato, n. 52, aprile, pp. 85-118.

MILGROM, P. and J. ROBERTS (1992), Economics, Organization and Management, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs.

MINISTERO del TESORO (2001), Libro bianco sulle operazioni di privatizzazione 1996- 2001, Roma.

MISHKIN, F.S. (1999), Financial consolidation: dangers and opportunities, Journal of Banking and Finance, vol. 23, pp. 675-91.

PEEK, J. and E.S. ROSENGREN (1998), Bank consolidation and small business lending: its not just bank size that matters, Journal of Banking and Finance, vol. 22, pp. 799-819.

PRAGER, R.A. and T.H. HANNAN (1999), Do substantial horizontal mergers generate significant price effects? Evidence from the banking industry, Journal of Industrial Economics, vol. 46, pp. 433-52.

RHOADES, S.A. (1995), Market share inequality, the HHI and other measures of the firm-composition of a market, Review of Industrial Organization, vol. 10, pp. 657-74.

RHOADES, S.A. (1998), The efficiency effects of bank mergers: an overview of case studies of nine mergers, Journal of Banking and Finance, vol. 22, pp. 273-91.

SANTOMERO, A.M. (1999), Bank mergers: whats a policymaker to do?, Journal of Banking and Finance, vol. 23, pp. 637-43.

SAPIENZA, P. (1997), The effects of banking mergers on loan contracts, mimeo.

SHAFFER, S. (1993), Can megamergers improve bank efficiency?, Journal of Banking and Finance, vol. 17, pp. 423-36.

STIGLITZ, J.E. (1987), Technological change, sunk costs, and competition, Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, no. 3, pp. 883-937.

STRAHAN, P.E. and J.P. WESTON (1998), Small business lending and the changing structure of the banking industry, Journal of Banking and Finance, vol. 22, pp. 821-46.

VANDER VENNET, R. (1996), The effect of mergers and acquisitions on the efficiency and profitability of EC credit institutions, Journal of Banking and Finance, vol. 20, pp. 1531-58.

VANDER VENNET, R. (2000), Are financial conglomerates and universal banks efficient? Evidence from European banking, in M. Artis, A. Weber and E. Hennessy eds, The Euro. A Challenge and Opportunity for Financial Markets, Routledge, London, pp. 139-65.

Downloads

Published

2012-04-19

How to Cite

Messori, M. (2012). Consolidation, ownership structure and efficiency in the Italian banking system. PSL Quarterly Review, 55(221). https://doi.org/10.13133/2037-3643/9908

Issue

Section

Articles