MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS IN THE GREEK BANKING SECTOR ADDRESSING THE PROFITABILITY QUESTION

The wave of mergers and acquisitions of financial institutions which was observed in the United States and Europe in the 1980s and 1990s seems to have affected the Greek banking market by the end of the 1990s. The result was the emergence of new significant players in the market. Despite the fact that scale economies should lead to the improvement of their efficiency, this fact was not confirmed by empirical research and, moreover in several cases there has been an adverse effect. We are focus on financial statement analysis by examining the profitability and performance ratios. Mergers and acquisitions in the Greek banking system contributed to an increase in profitability of banks but they did not lead to improvement to their efficiency. It is an undeniable fact that the development and expansion of banks had a positive effect on the markets, resulting in the attraction of new capital which improved their capital sufficiency and of course on their extroversion, their internationalization and their successful expansion to other markets-particularly to Balkan countries.