Between 1995 and 2004, the size of the largest bank in the world has grown three-fold by asset size, from about US $ 0.5 trillion to US $ 1.5 trillion, almost double the size of Indian GDP. This has happened through a great degree of merger activity: for example, J.P.Morgan Chase is the result of mergers among 550 banks and financial institutions.
The ten biggest commercial banks in the US now control almost half of that country's banking assets, up from 29 per cent just 10 years ago (Economist, 2006). Hence, with fuller capital account convertibility and greater presence of foreign banks over time, a number of issues will arise.