The process, initially involving the financial markets of the emerging countries, has spread to the mature economies, albeit to a more limited extent. 2 In the European Union, cross-border bank mergers and acquisitions have increased in both number and value. Between 2005 and 2007 more than 350 were carried out, largely between intermediaries from different countries.
The trend abated in 2008, owing to the international financial crisis, but it did not come to a halt, with cross-border mergers and acquisitions down in number but up in value from the previous year. 3 At the end of 2007 branches and subsidiaries of foreign banks accounted for a little less than 30 per cent of total bank assets in the European Union.