Thus far, however, the consolidation process has mainly involved mergers and acquisitions (M&As) of relatively small credit institutions within national boundaries, and mostly in countries where the degree of bank concentration was lowest. By contrast, there have been very few cross-border mergers. Indeed, the presence in EU countries of large pan-European banking groups through branches and subsidiaries is relatively limited.
With regard to the composition of the refinancing basis the tendency is for the deposits of non-banks to increase. In the German banking system, the deposits of non-banks as a share of total liabilities have risen from 37% prior to the onset of the crisis to 42% today.