Case Studies: Specific Lessons for the Future

Abstract

From our universe of 33 bank mergers, we have selected eight which we view as particularly useful for the lessons they portray — both good and bad. Our selection includes two mergers which have been universally acclaimed as successful, as well as several which appeared at the outset to be marriages made in bank heaven but which have since encountered serious ‘bumps on the road’. A fifth is ploughing new ground as an early cross-border merger, and another has sadly become a role model for poor execution. A seventh embodies the new model of a conglomerate growing by acquisition and now abandoning the federal model for an integrated one, and the last reflects what many observers view as the new paradigm in US bank mergers.