Networking in my view entails leveraging personal and professional contacts to grow the business through such avenues as securing a market for goods or products; optimising each other’s knowledge and expertise including information on possible sources of funding or raw materials; management competencies; or access to skills.
The European banking groups have grown considerably, mainly as a result of mergers, with 30% of the groups of institutions under review having assets of more than € billion. The foreign presence of these groups is on the increase, both in terms of the number of EU countries where they have a foreign affiliate and in terms of their share of external assets.